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With less than a month to go before the Nov. 4 elections, Democrats are turning to their party's biggest names to rally key constituencies.


Perhaps the biggest is former President Bill Clinton, who took the stage Friday at Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus to wild applause and a standing ovation.


There to urge Minnesota Democrats to vote in the midterm election, Clinton said the country is coming back from the Great Recession, that the Affordable Care Act is working and that Democrats need to show up at the polls to prevent progress from being undone.

"We cannot build a country with a coherent policy and coherent future if we have two different Americas showing up depending on whether there's a presidential election on the ballot," Clinton said. "We cannot do that. You can change it. Thank you and God bless you all."


The audience included many young people, who Clinton said have a bigger stake in the outcome of the vote than any other group.

In his speech, Clinton also said U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Gov. Mark Dayton have done good work and he described them as "evidence-based" politicians who should be re-elected.


According to the Franken campaign, the nearly 2,700 people who filled the seats at Northrup Auditorium included students, special guests of the campaigns and the DFL Party and people who obtained tickets online or stood in line before the former president spoke.


Among those in the audience was 70-year-old Ann O'Toole, of south Minneapolis.


"The Republicans are a disaster," she said.
O'Toole said she thinks Minnesota Democrats are fired up and that this year they will buck the typical low DFL voter turnout in midterm elections.


"They know what can happen in this off-year election," she said.


O'Toole said she would have been delighted to see President Barack Obama in Minnesota despite polls that show low public approval of his job performance.


Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey said Clinton came to Minnesota because, despite the polls, Franken and Dayton are worried about their Election Day prospects. Downey also said Clinton is working the stump for Minnesota Democrats in place of the president because Obama is no longer popular in Minnesota. 


"I don't think even President Clinton can  overshadow the fact that Al Franken voted 97 percent of the time with President Obama and Mark Dayton was the earliest adopter of Obamacare here," Downey said. "I think it's a sign that they need some help. Obviously they can't bring President Obama, given his popularity, or lack thereof."


Across the country Democratic candidates have been distancing themselves from the president. 

Carleton College political scientist Steven Schier said even in a Democratic-leaning state such as Minnesota, Obama might do more harm than good for DFL candidates if he were to visit the state between now and Election Day.

"He's under 40 percent in most polls in job approval in this state," Schier said of the president. "It's not clear that his visit would be particularly valuable."

Schier said that the latest ad for Dayton's Republican opponent, Jeff Johnson, uses a picture of the governor and the president.

"That would suggest Republicans certainly think he's not a big help to Democrats at this point," Schier said.

Although Republicans claim they have Franken and Dayton on the ropes, public opinion polls have consistently shown both Democrats leading their GOP challengers.

Washington University political science professor Steven Smith said Franken and Dayton both appear to be doing well and because of that it is unlikely that there will be many more campaign visits of prominent Democrats like Clinton between now and the election.

"This is when you would expect to see someone like this," Smith said. "Clinton won't be spending his time in Minnesota, chances are, if the polls don't move in the next two or three weeks. So this is kind of the last chance for Minnesota Democrats to get a big name in the state because Clinton will be focusing on other states."

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Former President Bill Clinton asked young voters  to break the pattern of low turnout for Democrats in midterm elections.

Clinton calls on young Minnesotans to vote

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