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The 2016 presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is expanding in Minnesota to prepare for the state’s March 1 precinct caucuses.

Sanders has been relying on campaign volunteers in Minnesota. But campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Thursday that they now have paid staff “on the ground in Minnesota” to help organize for the caucuses.

Weaver said in a conference call with Minnesota reporters that the move is the result of growing campaign donations.

“We expected originally to just be sort of in Iowa and New Hampshire," Weaver said. "But we have been able, given the great outpouring of support we’ve received from small donors across the county, to expand into other early states, and also into the March 1 states, including Minnesota.”

The new hires include a state director, caucus director and field director. Other positions will also be added, according to State Director Robert Dempsey.

Weaver said he expects Sanders to make a return campaign stop in Minnesota, sometime before the Iowa caucuses on Feb 1. He didn’t give a specific date. Weaver said a well-attended Minneapolis rally last spring played a “pivotal role” in the early part of the campaign, and showed the kind of support that was building for Sanders.

“That spark really started in Minneapolis,” he said.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sanders’ chief rival for the Democratic nomination, is scheduled to be in Minneapolis on Tuesday for a private fundraiser and for what her campaign calls a grassroots organizing event.

Politics and Government News

Capitol View®

Tim Pugmire

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Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign is expanding in Minnesota to prepare for the state’s precinct caucuses.

Sanders campaign staffing up in Minnesota

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