2004 Presidential Campaign Blog

2004 Minnesota Electoral College Assembly

Although Minnesota is a blue state and the 10 electors were pledged to John Kerry, one elector may be a little red faced. Faithless electors are not unheard of, one DC elector abstained from voting in 2000, but this may be a case of a "Faceless Elector,"  as no one admitted to voting for John Edwards on the presidential elector slate. So Minnesota cast 9 electoral votes for John Kerry for president and 1 for John Edwards. Edwards received all 10 electoral votes for vice-president.

It may have been nothing more than a simple mistake. The elector in question may have thought that the first round of voting was for vice president or with both candidates having the first name John, it would be easy enough to transpose names.

An interesting side note. Ronald Reagan received one electoral vote from Washington state in the 1976 Electoral College.  Four years later he was elected president.

John Edwards "Fresh Start for America" Rally

On Monday, November 1, 2004, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards returned to Minnesota for a “Fresh Start for America” rally in the Hutton Arena at Hamline University in St. Paul.  Edwards discussed the Kerry-Edwards plan to create jobs and strengthen the middle class with Minnesota voters and rallied Minnesotans to get out the vote for Election Day.

George W. Bush Minneapolis Victory 2004 Rally

President George W. Bush attended a Victory 2004 Rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Saturday, October 30, 2004.

Before the President arrived, Senator Norm Coleman held up a copy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press showing the paper's endorsement of the President for re-election. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty held up and turned upside down a large maroon and gold flag with the University's "M" which he said meant Minnesota stood for "W." Brock Lesnar also spoke and endorsed the President.

The crowd estimated at over 20,000 cheered loudly when the large video screen on the scoreboard showed the President and First Lady Laura Bush arriving on Air Force One.

Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice introduced President Bush and presented him with a personalized Vikings jersey with the number 1 on the back. With only days before the election President Bush thanked everyone for coming and said "We are here to ask for your vote. We are here to ask for your help."

The President closed with these words "When I campaigned across this state four years ago, I made this pledge that if I got elected, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office to which I had been elected. With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for four more years. God bless. Thank you all for coming." Continuing with that theme, the closing song for the event was Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life," which was used during the 2000 campaign.

Photos Video

John Edwards "Fresh Start for America" Rally

On Tuesday, October 26, 2004, actor Ashton Kutcher, musician Max Weinberg, Chris Heinz and Andre Heinz joined Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards for a “Fresh Start for America” rally at the University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion in the Twin Cities.

John Kerry "Fresh Start for America” Rally

John Kerry returned to the Gopher State Thursday, October 21 for a “Fresh Start for America Rally”  in front of a record breaking 30,000-plus supporters in Minneapolis.

The rally took place outside the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on the east side in the parking lot located at South 5th Street and South 11th Avenue.

George W. Bush Focus on the Economy

At the Rochester Aviation Hangar in Rochester, Minnesota, President Bush discussed his Economic Program.

On Free Trade: "In order to make sure this economy grows, we got to keep opening up markets for Minnesota farmers and entrepreneurs and small business owners. See, the tendency in American politics is to fall prey to economic isolationism. That would be bad for our workers. It would be bad for our consumers. The Presidents before me have opened up our markets, and I'm happy to open up markets, too. It's in our consumers' interests. If you have more products to choose from you're likely to get that which you want at a better price and better quality. See, it's in your interests. And so I'm saying to places like China, you treat us the way we treat you. You open up your markets just like we've opened up our markets. And I say that with confidence because we can compete with anybody, any time, anywhere so long as the rules are fair."

On Social Security: "One other thing I want to talk about right quick, and that is Social Security. A President must solve problems, must confront problems, not pass them on to future Presidents or future generations. We have a problem in Social Security, and that is, when baby boomers like me retire, younger workers are going to have trouble paying for us, and therefore, have money available when they retire. That's just the facts. Now, first, I want to address kind of the typical old-style, stale politics, and that is the politics of scare tactics towards Social Security. When I ran in 2000, I suspect here in the state of Minnesota -- I know in other states -- they ran ads saying, if George W. gets elected, the seniors will not get their checks. I want you to remind your friends and neighbors, the seniors got their checks. Nobody's going to take away the Social Security check from our seniors. The fund has got enough money, and baby boomers like me are in good shape. But we need to worry about children and our grandchildren when it comes to Social Security. Social Security will not be there when they need it if we don't think differently.

That is why I believe younger workers ought to be able to take some of their payroll taxes and set up a personal savings account, a personal savings account that will earn a better rate of return than the current Social Security trust, an account they call their own, an account the government cannot take away."

The President closed with these words. "I'm running again because I want to make sure hope and opportunity spread throughout the land, good economic policy, to encouraging ownership for all people in our society. I'm running again because I hold certain values dear that I think are important for this country. And I'm running again because I fully understand the risks we face, and I have a strategy to protect the American people.

We're going to win on November the 2nd, with your help. May God bless you. May God bless our great country. Thank you all for coming."

John Edwards Rally for a Stronger America

John Edwards Rally for a Stronger America with Minnesota voters at Maple Grove High School on October 10, 2004. Edwards first addressed over 7,000 supporters in the High School Gymnasium, before speaking to an overflow crowd gathered in the High School Cafeteria who could only listen to the earlier speech.

George W. Bush Victory 2004 Rally

Some excerpts of the speech President Bush gave at City Center Park in Chanhassen on October 9, 2004. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. It turns out I am the first sitting President ever to visit Chanhassen, Minnesota. All the other ones missed out on a beautiful part of America.  Thank you for coming out today. I'm here asking for the vote. And I'm here to ask for your help in getting that vote out. There is no doubt in my mind, with your help, we will carry Minnesota and win a great victory in November.

Jenna and Barbara Bush in St. Paul

Jenna and Barbara Bush campaigned at a W Stands for Women Brunch and Students for Bush Rally. The President's daughters began the day at a W Stands for Women Brunch at the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. Later they spoke at a Students for Bush Rally and made phone calls thanking the volunteers at the Bush Cheney '04 Minnesota Headquarters.

Focus on Health Care with President George W. Bush

The second stop on a three city tour of Minnesota, which also included St. Cloud and Rochester, the President held a "Focus on Health Care with president George W. Bush" at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota.

THE PRESIDENT: "All right, let me talk about health care. The subject that we're going to focus on today is health care. We want health care to be available and affordable. We want people to be able to afford health care and, therefore, we need to be thinking about -- need to deal with the rising cost of health care. And we want health care to be available."