President Seeks Edge in a Contest for Governor

Mr. Obama at a rally Saturday at the University of Minnesota.

By HELENE COOPER
NYT

MINNEAPOLIS — President Obama wrapped up a four-day campaign swing on Saturday, telling students and the Democratic Party faithful to seize the chance to win a Republican-held governor’s seat here next month.

Mr. Obama appeared at a rally on behalf of the candidate Mark Dayton, who probably represents the Democrats’ best chance in the midterm elections to take a seat held by a Republican governor. Unlike many other races across the country where polls show Republicans with an edge, in Minnesota, Mr. Dayton, a former United States senator, is polling ahead of Tom Emmer, a Republican, and Tom Horner of the Independence Party.

A capacity crowd of about 8,500 jammed the field house at the University of Minnesota for the rally, the last event in a trip that took the president across the Western states of Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada before his stop in Minnesota.

The departing governor, Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who may well be running against Mr. Obama for the presidency in 2012, released a video to pseudo-welcome the president to his home state. The video included a mock lesson on what it takes to talk like a Minnesotan.

(More here.)