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.)

[Valin]

I may just be going insane here

May? :-)

I don't know about Ramsey (that's on the other side of the river and they don't let us over there) but Hennepin county includes some suburbs and so it is a bit more conservative than the Mpls city government. There are even some republicans on the Hennepin county board, but it's a matter of degrees. The seven county metro area is still one of the most leftwing areas in the country. I'd have to say that Ramsey county is the more conservative.

[Reverend Bob]

Here's a fun link:

http://161.188.204.190/stpaul/election/ussen_bycounty.cfm

It will give you county by county vote totals from the 2002 Senate race between Coleman and Mondale/Wellstone.

[Finalapproach29er]

St. Paul is very Irish-Catholic Democrat.

Following the Coleman example. Gutsy. He'll take heat for this big time.

[reformedliberal]

FNS was awful!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are all these so-called Republicans like Barnes & Kristol in the tank for Kerry?

For those fortunate enough to have not watched: instead of the Marines at Wendy's story, we got a meaningless story about a couple of Republicans named Reagan who are now voting for Kerry because his speech at the Convention was so marvelous. We got told that Kerry is "best positioned since Clinton in 92" to win. We got told Bush's approval was at 45% and we were treated to a discussion of the Newsweek poll and not a word about the Gallup/CNN/USA Today.

I wrote them a letter.I offered facts against each of these stories/opinions. Fair and balanced, my A$$.

[maxwellp]

Mayor Kelly may recognize the danger of a sKerry presidency. Let's face it, until 9/11 we here in America lived very free of terrorism. After 9/11 everything changed and Mayor Kelly may worry, as so many Americans do these days, about the future of their children and grandchildren. He's afraid, as many of us are, and he's not willing to trust their future to the insane Decocrat Party. Nor are we - a National Party no more.

[Intolerant in NJ]

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election...the little trickle of water before the dam bursts.......

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

Love it!

[loveliberty2]

My belief is that Democrats, as welll as Undecideds, will look at the VERY FIRST DECISION made by John Kerry and conclude that:

A man who chooses his VP so foolishly cannot be relied upon to make other crucial decisions about protecting America.

[NautiNurse]

Great news!

[TypeZoNegative]

Saint Paul, first you guys get the Wild, You're probably going to get the Twins and now this. I'm moving there!

[Snuffington]

I believe that Minneapolis is more conservative than St. Paul, so this is REALLY good news!

Um... no.

[skr]

Re: 7

Whatever the mayor's reasons, he's taking a huge chance if his voting base doesn't agree with him.

[Chode]

EJECT!... EJECT!!... EJECT!!!

and the Hit's just keep right on coming...

[John.Cooch]

Norm was a DFL'r then a Republican, which he is today. He was a great mayor (brought the NHL Wild back), and he was republican. Kelly is a DFL'r which is why this is such a big deal. I guess we just found us a Democrat that is honest, who'd a thunk?

[Snuffington]

Minneapolis is SUPER liberal. It's city council consists of 2 Greens and 11 Democrats. A Republican couldn't win a city wide (or council) race if they were the only one on the ballot. St.Paul is also heavily Democrat, but much more of the traditional, blue collar, conservative type. The growing suburbs of both cities, meanwhile, are trending Republican, as are many of the rural areas.

Good analysis, and thanks for saving me the effort. :-)

[TypeZoNegative]

I've driven through STP. The voting bloc is conservative. Even on liberal University Ave.

[John.Cooch]

I believe that Minneapolis is more conservative than St. Paul, so this is REALLY good news!


Other way around. Mpls is WAY liberal, St Paul more conservative, but still a very liberal state, here in MN.

[TypeZoNegative]

Sorry, it's just that when us Minnesotans see eachother on the web, we just like to talk about our beautiful state.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Minniesodians can't be all that dumb if they were able to see through that buffoon Jesse Ventura. Go, Bush, Go!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Hitlery's FBI files are coming in pretty handy.