The Minnesota caucuses haven’t gotten much national attention, but they take place next Tuesday. Marco Rubio, perhaps the favorite based on the sparse polling that has been done here, passed through Minneapolis today to address a rally at the downtown Hyatt Hotel. The rally was announced just two days ago and was held in a relatively small space, but it drew an enthusiastic crowd that others estimated at around 1,500.
Some pro-immigration protesters were on hand before the rally began. One sign said, “Rubio wants to deport me.” My guess is the Rubio campaign doesn’t mind that sort of protest much:
The crowd at the rally skewed young and was diverse by Minnesota standards. Rubio was very sharp. He was relaxed and bantered easily with the crowd, which sometimes was borderline rowdy, as in this sequence about Bernie Sanders:
I don’t think there were many undecided voters at today’s event, but any who were there had to be impressed. These are the last ten minutes of Rubio’s speech, beginning with a joke about being born in the United States:
On the way out, we encountered this solitary demonstrator. I have no idea what to make of him. It’s the kind of thing presidential campaigns attract, I suppose:
My guess is that Marco will do well in Minnesota’s caucuses. I was interviewed this morning for a Washington Post article about Rubio’s appeal to suburbanites, particularly suburban women. Today’s event reinforced my belief that this is a demographic with which Marco will excel.
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