Visit Our Sponsors Races President Congress Legislature Audio Highlights President Bush's post-election news conference (11/4/04) President George W. Bush accepts his victory (11/3/04) Sen. John F. Kerry acknowledges his defeat (11/3/04) Sen. John Edwards (11/3/04) John Thune accepts S.D. Senate victory (11/3/04) Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) on his victory (11/2/04) Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) (11/2/04) Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) (11/2/04) Patty Wetterling concedes (11/2/04) Sen. Mark Dayton's analysis of Minn. vote (11/2/04) Election Results See complete election returns from Minnesota and the U.S. Select A Candidate Select A Candidate Which candidates' views on the issues most closely match your own? Take our Select A Candidate survey. Conventions Democratic National Convention Republican National Convention Your Voice What goals would you set for President Bush? What focus would you like to see? What do you want from the 2004 administration?

The Democratic National Convention: As seen on TV?
Television viewers who want to see the rising stars of the Democratic Party will have to do a bit of channel surfing. The three major television networks defended coverage cutbacks, saying the conventions do not yield enough news to warrant more time. ( 07/28/2004)

Minnesota DFLers united despite differences
Democrats in Boston have approved a new platform that more than doubles the space given to defense and foreign policy issues. It also touches on the controversial issues of abortion rights and gay and lesbian unions. But despite the tangle of thorny issues, Minnesota delegates say they are unified behind Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards in a way that they haven't been in recent years. (07/28/2004)

Delegates from elsewhere have advice for Minnesota Democrats
In 2000, the Minnesota delegation was seated in the risers as Democrats nominated Vice President Al Gore for the presidency in Los Angeles' Staples Center. This year, Minnesota Democrats have a front-row seat at Boston's Fleet Center. Many factors affect a delegation's seating, but one of them is likely the state's status as a newly-minted battleground state. (07/27/2004)

Heinz Kerry touts husband's character; Obama wows the delegates
Democrats assailed President Bush's handling of the Iraq war Tuesday night and painted a vivid portrait of John Kerry as a decorated war hero. "He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line," Teresa Heinz Kerry told the party's national convention. (07/27/2004)

Courting the veterans vote
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Boston are hearing an emphasis on Sen. John Kerry's war record. Convention organizers are hoping to portray Kerry as someone strong on defense. But it may be a tough sell among at least one group of voters -- veterans. (07/27/2004)

Democrats sell themselves as the party of strength
Democrats have wrestled their message down to one word: strength. A strong economy. Strong community. All under the vision of a strong leader. They can't use the word or its variations enough at their national convention. They used it 106 times in the text of the platform they were adopting in Boston on Tuesday, a document called "Strong at Home: Respected in the World." (07/27/2004)

Speeches from the Democratic National Convention
The best speeches from the first night of the Democratic National Convention, including the remarks of Bill and Hillary Clinton. ( 07/27/2004)

Conservative power in America
American conservatism has changed dramatically since Eisenhower was president. Two British authors say if you want a barometer of those changes, look to the Bush family. ( 07/27/2004)

Clinton assails Bush, issues call to send Kerry to White House
Bill Clinton stirred the opening night of the Democratic National Convention Monday with a summons to send John Kerry to the White House, accusing President Bush of botching both the economy and the war on terror. "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values," the former president said sarcastically of the man who followed him into office. He said Republicans "need a divided America, but we don't." (07/26/2004)

Kerry officials push positive spin on tight Midwest races
As the Democratic National Convention officially opened in Boston on Monday, strategists for Sen. John Kerry's campaign in the Midwest attempted to minimize the strong showing in Minnesota polls by President George Bush in a state that historically has been a Democratic stronghold. (07/26/2004)

New 527 groups enter the political debate
A group billing itself as the largest voter mobilization project in American history plans to become a major presence in the presidential race in Minnesota this year. America Coming Together, or ACT, wants to knock on 700,000 doors in the state before Nov. 2. ACT's goal is to defeat President Bush, but legally, it can't work with the Democratic Party. ACT is a 527 organization, which means it can raise unlimited amounts of money to try to elect Democrats. (07/25/2004)

It's a fresh-faced delegation for Minnesota at national Dem fest
More than 5,000 Democrats are assembling in Boston for the Democratic National Convention. Among their number are 98 Minnesota delegates and alternates, who are counting down to the nomination of Sen. John Kerry for president. The road to Boston began, for Minnesotans, during the March precinct caucuses that drew a record number of attendees. Out of that surprise turnout has comes a new crop of activists. They're younger and perhaps less seasoned, but, as they tell it, every bit as determined as the old guard to take the White House in November. (07/25/2004)

Where does the upper Midwest stand on the presidential election?
The Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics has released a new poll that analyzes where the upper Midwest stands on the presidential election and the issues that underscore it. We talk with the man behind the numbers to find out what they are and what they mean. ( 07/21/2004)

Why aren't more women in politics?
Women make up 51 percent of the adult population in the United States. Yet only 18 percent of state governors are female. And of the more than 12,000 people who have served in the U.S. Congress, only 215 of them have been women. Is there a glass ceiling in American politics? Or do women prefer not to pursue public political roles? ( 07/21/2004)

Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer
If the polls and the pundits are any indication, the 2004 presidential election is shaping up to be every bit as close as the one in 2000 was. Bush and Kerry are even neck and neck in Minnesota. That means it's possible that the way votes are counted--and possibly re-counted--may make all the difference once again. The responsibility for overseeing that process generally falls to the secretaries of state, who have just wrapped up their annual conference. Among other things they discussed the implementation of the Help America Vote Act, which was designed to streamline the voting process following the month-long period in which the last presidential election went unresolved. ( 07/20/2004)