by Mark Silva
Symbols are everything in politics.
Democrat Barack Obama plans his final primary night rally of the year, this week, on Republican-flagged grounds: The Excel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul, Minn, where the Republican National Convention will be staged in early September.
But, as McClatchy's ever-mindful-of-history Steve Thomma notes, the place comes with some Democratic ghosts as well.
As the final primary votes are cast Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota, Obama and wife Michelle will travel to a venue that the campaign takes as a sign of its intention to take the fight to the Republicans in November - with Obama intent on competing with Republican John McCain in close states such as Minnesota.
But the footprint of the St. Paul site has some noteworthy history, Thomma, who has some experience reporting in St. Paul, has noted.
"It was at that site where Democrat Walter Mondale met with about 2,000 crying supporters on election night to concede the 1984 presidential election to President Ronald Reagan,'' he writes. "And it wasn't just a loss. It was an Electoral College landslide.
"Reagan swept 49 states and took 525 Electoral colCege votes. Mondale carried just his home state of Minnesota - narrowly - and Washington DC, giving him just 13 Electoral College votes. It was the worst electoral college defeat ever suffered by a Democrat in American history. Other Democratic landslide losers fared better: Jimmy Carter got 49 electoral votes to Reagan's 489 in 1980, and George McGovern got 17 to Richard Nixon's 520 in 1972.
Mondale appeared gracious that night at the St. Paul Civic Center, later torn down to allow construction of the Xcel Energy Center. "He has won, we are all Americans, he is our president, and we honor him tonight," Mondale said. "I am thankful to America for hearing my case."
On Tuesday night, with Obama hoping that this week's primaries and super-delegate decisions will deliver the delegates needed to name him his party's 2008 presidential nominee, the junior senator from Illinois will take the stage in St. Paul as a winner and ask all of American to hear his case as well. He will, of course, not be looking backward.
Tribune wire services contributed to this report.
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Comments
'm a feminist and believe Hillary's scorched-earth, hopelessly inept, shamelessly nasty campaign has proven a disaster to feminism's cause and will set us back at least twenty years. Time for the entire nation--men AND women--to turn the page from divisive appeals to our demons--and for our better angels. USA today and in the future!
Posted by: lin | June 1, 2008 10:49 PM
The XCEL energy center did not exist in 1984. Why dioes this story keep appearing in newspapers? It was in the Kansas City Paper, too.
Posted by: MinJack | June 1, 2008 11:44 PM
It's kind of a wacky photo-op moment, reminiscent of George Bush standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" sign.
Or maybe it's more like a dog going over to pee on the neighbor dog's favorite tree.
Either way, it seems a little long on symbolism and short on substance.
Posted by: ElliotNC | June 1, 2008 11:50 PM
It's kind of a wacky photo-op moment, reminiscent of George Bush standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" sign.
Or maybe it's more like a dog going over to pee on the neighbor dog's favorite tree.
Either way, it seems a little long on symbolism and short on substance.
Posted by: ElliotNC | June 1, 2008 11:50 PM
This is all David Axelrod balderdash no candidate since Mondale has said like Obama I will raise your taxes.
He'll rank right up there with George McGovern, Dukakis and Walter Mondale.
Obama and friends have a dramatic flair that doesn't equate with his dysfunctional freinds and associates or his tax and spend ways.His tax and plans will cost our nation $327 billion dollars on the low side.
He is short on substance and he is symbolism over substance.
Obama is a socialist elitist on steroids look out Minnesota he's coming! Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | June 2, 2008 10:07 AM
I am so tired of all the "he's going to raise taxes" morons. He is proposing repealing the last Bush tax cut (which was the first-ever tax cut during war time in the history of the US)... it applies to less than 2% of the richest of the rich. Oh... by the way... giving tax breaks to the very richest while costs for the working class keep going up... THAT'S ELITISM!!
And FYI... Warren Buffet (the richest man in the world) believes capital gains taxes should be higher. He comments all the time that his secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes than he does. And don't say "maybe he should donate more of his money..." he already donates millions upon millions to charities every year.
Posted by: johne | June 3, 2008 9:28 AM