MN-PPP: Minnesota could be a swing state with Christie

[they don't love you like i love you]

I'm sorry but the thread title is misleading.  There's nothing in those numbers that makes me think swing state.

Christie barely trails Klobuchar, the state's popular Senator and potential Presidential candidate.

Look at the numbers below. Voters like Klobuchar, but don't consider her Presidential material.

Christie with all his positive media coverage now is still pulling about the GOP floor in the state. I wonder what John McCain was pulling in 2005. As meaningless as all polls are at this point.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Any rightward trending in Minnesota stalled in 2007 when the housing bubble burst. The Republicans are no longer gaining in their key areas like they used to.

For example let's compare the numbers in Wright County, which now traditionally has the largest Republican raw vote majority in the state:

1996:
Clinton 15,542
Dole 13,224
Perot 5,550

2000:
Gore 16,762   
Bush 23,861   
Nader 1,977

2004:
Kerry 22,618   
Bush 36,176

2008:
Obama 26,343   
McCain 37,779   

2012:
Obama 25,741
Romney 40,466

Look at any other exurban/outer suburban counties and you'll see a similar trend. Most had barely more votes cast in 2008 than 2004, and the trend to Romney in 2012 just mirrored the rest of the state/country for the most part. While from 1996-2004 the Republican vote literally tripled and grew at more than twice the fast the rate of the increase in Democratic votes.

Meanwhile compare Hennepin and Ramsey Counties in 2000 and 2012. In Ramsey County Romney actually got less than votes than Bush 2000, while Obama received about 47k more votes for Gore (significant even if you add all all 15k of Nader's votes to the Democratic total). And in Hennepin County Obama picked up 116k votes over Gore (81k over Gore+Nader), while Romney picked up only 15k over Bush. The population shifts simply don't benefit the Republicans anymore.