Margaret Anderson Kelliher for Governor

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor Margaret Anderson Kelliher had this to say about the projected $5.8 billion budget shortfall.

“After balancing the budget four times, I know this is more than a math problem. Our budget is about setting priorities based on Minnesota values: good jobs, great schools and safe communities.

“What my opponents don’t understand is that Minnesota’s number one budget problem is our lack of jobs. That’s why I am fighting to get Minnesota back to work.

“With 208,000 Minnesotans out of work, and thousands more working harder and earning less, the challenges facing our state are serious. These challenges require honest, stable leadership.  Minnesotans need solutions, not slogans.

“Mark Dayton’s plan to raise taxes on middle class families and senior citizens, and Tom Emmer’s plan to slash schools, health care, and police and fire services are unrealistic and irresponsible.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor Margaret Anderson Kelliher will begin airing her first television ad within days. As the campaign gears up to hit the airwaves, thousands of volunteers are bringing Margaret’s message of good jobs and great schools to primary voters on the phones and at the doors every week.

Thirty days out from Election Day, the Kelliher campaign is recruiting thousands of volunteers to contact more than 60,000 voters in a weekend of action – a three-day direct voter contact extravaganza the campaign is calling MAKtion!

“We will win this campaign door-by-door, voter-by-voter,” said Kelliher, the DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor. “Our campaign’s strong grassroots network is reaching voters one-by-one in a ground effort our opponents can’t compete with. That’s how you win a primary election in Minnesota.”

MANKATO, MN – DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor Margaret Anderson Kelliher met with parents and teachers today in Mankato to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Minnesota students. Kelliher is a working mom with two kids in public schools.

“A strong education is the foundation of a strong economy,” said Kelliher. “Minnesota’s educated workforce has always been our state’s best competitive advantage.”

But Kelliher warns that without bold leadership, Minnesota’s nation-leading schools could slip into mediocrity.

“As a mom I know the challenges Minnesota students are facing,” said Kelliher. “Our schools face limited resources and growing class sizes. Minnesota’s achievement gap is the second-worst in the nation, and only half of our students come to Kindergarten ready to learn. In Minnesota we must and can do better.

By BILL SALISBURY, St. Paul Pioneer Press

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Can a ground game beat an air game?

Margaret Anderson Kelliher and the DFL establishment are betting her ground game — an army of volunteers phoning or talking directly to tens of thousands of voters — can overcome the television-advertising air games of her millionaire rivals, Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza, in the Aug. 10 primary for governor.

Kelliher, the Minnesota House speaker and DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate, acknowledges Dayton and Entenza can afford to buy more airtime than her campaign can. But she will start airing TV spots this month.

More important, she says: She's got volunteers. Her team is "working nonstop to build a statewide organization" of volunteers.

"We are running a people-powered campaign," she said.

Her strategy flies in the face of conventional political wisdom: the candidate with the higher name recognition — often bought with TV ads — wins.

Not always, said Jeff Blodgett, who managed the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone's successful grassroots campaigns.