Clinton: Break partisan gridlock for the country's sake

Former President Bill Clinton implored Democratic supporters Friday to vote for the sake of a collaborative future for the country in a rousing, lengthy speech that focused largely on the perils of partisan gridlock.

The former president entered and left the stage to cheers and standing ovations at the packed Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus while stumping for Minnesota incumbents DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and U.S. Sen. Al Franken as they fight to hold on to their seats against Republican challengers. Despite serving his two terms while half the crowd was still in diapers, Clinton regaled the audience with tales of his friendships with former Vice President Walter Mondale and South African President Nelson Mandela, while focusing the majority of his 35-minute address on the nation's current conflict-based political climate.

"Will we become a winner-take-all world, where in order to advance you have to retreat? In order for my new grandchild to do well, there have to be other grandchildren halfway around the world who won't? In order for me to feel good about myself I feel really bad about you?" he asked. "Are you going to be to the rest of the world a negative reference or a positive hope? A closed fist or an open hand?"

Clinton's speech finished out the often humorous two-hour-plus rally geared toward early voting that featured speeches from Franken and Dayton, as well as Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who handily defeated her Republican opponent in 2012. That wasn't the case for Franken and Dayton, who during their respective elections faced recounts and won by razor-thin margins. Each displayed their own brand of self-deprecation, but parlayed their close races into the importance of getting to the polls now.

Franken told the crowd, split between U students and Twin Cities residents, that he owed his 2009 defeat of Republican Sen. Norm Coleman to them. He noted that the 2010 midterm elections, when fewer young voters turned out, resulted in the loss of DFL control of the Minnesota Legislature.

"Maybe what happened in 2010 wasn't your fault, but making sure it doesn't happen again is your responsibility! In 2008 I won by 312 votes. I won because of you and again, maybe not you specifically, but students were critical to my campaign," he said. "But there's a flip side to that. If one fewer student decides not to be a part of my campaign this time around … we can't afford to let that happen."

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey called Friday's rally a meager effort by the Dayton and Franken campaigns to draw attention from President Obama's dismally low approval ratings.

"Bill Clinton came here for one reason and that's because Barack Obama can't come here," he said. "They're doing everything to distance themselves from the president and it's not going to work."

Cooperation works

Although Clinton was Friday's main draw, speeches by other DFL candidates were well-received by students who attended the rally.

Katie Taleen, 18, a freshman, said she missed a class to catch the rally. "I've always supported Dayton and Franken," she said. The event, largely an effort to urge students to vote, appeared to have had an impact on Taleen. She said she hadn't yet voted but that she likely would.

Camden Anderson, a 19-year-old sophomore studying political science, said he's undecided, but is looking forward to voting in his first election. Student loans and the cost of college — a key theme running through the Democratic speeches — resonated with Anderson, but he's not yet fully convinced. If the Republicans were to hold a similar on-campus rally, he said he'd be there.

"I think I need to do a little more research," he said. "This is my first big election."

Longtime Democrats Joe and Janet Moses of Minneapolis came to see Clinton. They walked away satisfied.

"I trust his perspective, and nobody articulates the way he does," Joe Moses said. "It was flat-out inspiring, exciting and energizing and I miss that. The older I get the more I seek leadership, so it was a pleasure to see his leadership demonstrated."

Clinton told stories of how Mandela garnered backlash from his own supporters when he installed members of the party that jailed him into office. The message, he said, is that diverse groups do better and cooperation works.

"We are going to share the future, and the job of every citizen is to define the terms upon which we will share it so that they are positive for everyone — because we will go up or down together," he said. "I prefer up. But I have no 'up vote' in Minnesota. And you do."

Staff writer Ricardo Lopez contributed to this report.

Abby Simons • 651-925-5043