AP: St. Paul, MN Democrat Mayor Breaks Ranks -- Will support Bush For Re-Election

AP ^

[hawaiian]

Here's the linK

St. Paul Mayor Kelly Supports Bush for Re-election

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election.

"George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies."

Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction. "There's no reason to believe a change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.

And the mayor said the United States will bring the troops home from Iraq a lot sooner if "we don't try to bring in a whole new leadership team to run the show. We must stay the course."

Governor Tim Pawlenty, who co-chairs the Bush-Cheney campaign in Minnesota, praised Kelly. "His bold decision is courageous and a welcome move toward working across party lines," Pawlenty said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, the Bush-Cheney campaign's other co-chair in Minnesota, called Kelly's announcement "bipartisanship at its finest."

"Mayor Kelly recognizes that jobs are being created and that tax cuts have stimulated that job growth. He has done the same for St. Paul," said Coleman, Kelly's predecessor as mayor of Minnesota's capital city.

But the St. Paul DFL Party said Kelly "has traded the values of St. Paul for the agenda of the Republican Party's far right."

"Rather than advocating the needs of St. Paul, Mayor Kelly's decision to not support John Kerry's strategy for building our cities does the voters of St. Paul a disservice," the party said.

Kelly, who was elected mayor in 2001, is up for re-election next year.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Tribune7]

wow

[ohioWfan]

btw, I didn't say either was actually conservative........but I was very surprised when I read the numbers on the two counties, that Hennepin came down to the right of Ramsey.

I will accept any correct info you have.

I lived in St. Paul for 6 years, have 2 brothers who live in the Cities, and a number of good friends, so I think the info I got was accurate..

[ChadGore]

Kerry = Exxon Valdese

Adrift, spewing toxins, and listing hard to the left.

[TypeZoNegative]

"I remember distinctly reading that Hennepin County was less liberal than Ramsey County..........but I don't know how to come up with the article."

That's because Hennepin County, although having Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Richfeild, also has suburban conservative bastions such as Edina, Saint Louis Park (Western, not Eastern) and Eden Prarie and has rual (Although not so rual anymore) towns such as Rockford.

[ohioWfan]

Do you have stats for the two counties?

I may just be going insane here.......... ;o)

btw, repeating that I know both are liberal.....just heard/read that Hennepin was less so than Ramsey......which surprised me a whole lot.

[ohioWfan]

Aha! So that's it.......the stats I heard included the whole county.

At any rate, this is good news!

[Atlas Sneezed]

btw, repeating that I know both are liberal.....just heard/read that Hennepin was less so than Ramsey......which surprised me a whole lot.

---

Hennepin/Ramsey isn't the same as Mpls./St. Paul.

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

The mayor will change his tune once Kerry has an opportunity to introduce himself to the voters.

[Reverend Bob]

Hennepin County is huge and includes a lot of Republican areas on it's South, West, and North. As a whole the county is about 55% DFL and 45% GOP.

[ohioWfan]

Ummmm....I know that. But Mpls is in Hennepin, and St. Paul is in Ramsey.

(I think I'll just go away now........)

[EGPWS]

Mpls is so far left they still believe wellstone is running for re-election (his signs are still in yards) they all have bumper stickers that say WWWD (What Would Wellstone Do)

That is a sad truth C4L, for most in Minneapolis don't realize that the best that PW can do is scratch his coffin lid through personal frustration.

[NordP]

"St. Paul Mayor Kelly Supports Bush for Re-election<">

YES!!! I KNEW "MY PEOPLE" WOULD BE SMART!

NordP, former Roseville-ite

[Conservative4Life]

I live in MN now, and have lived in St.Paul as well as its suburbs... I still contend mpls is still left of st.paul, but as I said in prior post, its still on the left. I will go to st.paul for business, I will NOT go to mpls if my life depended on it. Hennepin county is huge and many of the burbs and outlying areas of the county are less liberal, yet they are still liberal. I'm just glad I moved to a 'red' county north of the cities and can bypass the whole mess. Either way, they are both still a liberal mecca

[stylin_geek]

Actually, St. Paul is working class to the Minneapolis "urban" work force.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press runs a fairly balanced paper, whereas the Star Tribune is known as the "Minneapolis Red Star."

[Jim_Curtis]

The giant wooden donkeyphant is great...just keep it parked outside the city gates.

[ohioWfan]

Move to Ohio. You'd like it here. :o)

[EGPWS]

Hennepin County is huge...

Outside of the Sate itself and 3M, they have the largest budget in the state!

A very ominous stat that should open the eyes to all in MN.

[ohioWfan]

I am also aware of that.

[arichtaxpayer]

[dufekin]

Why would Mayor Daley endorse Bush? It's not like he could vote for Bush. Bush won't be on the ballot in Illinois--an indignity that no sitting president insofar as I can tell has ever suffered.