Home > News > Duluth voters filled the caucases for Super Tuesday
Duluth voters filled the caucases for Super Tuesday
BY SARA JOCHEMS
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/19
Similar to a scene at the airport, countless people stood in line on Tuesday. However, instead of waiting to get through the boarding gates, people of all ages in their winter coats waited to cast their ballots in the Minnesota caucuses on Super Tuesday. The Duluth Schools Administration Building, off 1st Ave. W., was one site where Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL), members could go to show their support.
Others were handing out blank pieces of paper, asking people to write their name, telephone number and address because they had run out of ballots due to the surprisingly high turnout. UMD senior Chris Skoglund showed his support for the Democratic Party. “Obama is the man,” Skoglund said. “I have always liked Obama, but after I went to his speech at the Target Center last Saturday, he made me realize how great of a president he could be. We need change.” Sporting an Obama ’08 shirt with a smile on his face, Mayor Don Ness was also at the caucus off of 1st Ave. W.
“I came out here to support Obama,” said Ness. On the opposite end of Duluth, more caucusing was taking place. When senior Kyle Younghans went into Duluth East High School to caucus for the Republican Party, nobody was handing out stickers, but that didn’t matter. To him, casting his ballot was important. “I voted for Mike Huckabee because I feel that he is the most fiscally conservative Republican out there, as well as socially conservative,” he said.
Minnesotans voted in favor of Mitt Romney on the Republican side with a 41 percent victory over John McCain’s 22 percent and Mike Huckabee’s 20 percent, according to msnbc.com. On the Democratic side, Obama won Minnesota with 67 percent of the votes. Clinton followed with 32 percent, according to msnbc.com.
According to the mpr.org Web site, leaders of both parties remained amazed at the numbers and pleased with the high interest of this year’s presidential contest. DFL participants topped 230,000, four times as high as the last presidential year, and GOP turnout was above 70,000, according to the Web site. Overall for the Democrats on Super Tuesday, Obama had 838 delegates followed closely by Clinton’s 834. For the Republicans, the Associated Press stated that McCain had 720 delegates, to Romney’s 256 delegates and 194 for Huckabee.
