ST. PAUL, Minn. - With just days to go until the election, a new poll finds Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama maintaining a commanding lead over Republican John McCain in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Public Radio News/University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute poll released Thursday finds Obama with a 19 percentage point lead among likely voters over McCain in Minnesota, 56 percent to 37 percent. Six percent were undecided.
"If I'm a John McCain supporter, I'm concerned," University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said. "This is just not good news."
The pollsters questioned 451 likely voters by telephone between last Friday and Tuesday. The poll has a margin of sampling error of 4.6 percentage points.
Pollsters found the economy and jobs was named as the top concern by nearly two-thirds of likely voters, and among those who think the economy is the most important issue Obama holds a 25 percentage point lead.
"There's really no evidence here that McCain has been able to overcome the basic hurdles that he started the campaign with which is that the economy is working for Barack Obama," Jacobs said. "The financial crisis played just into the Obama strategy that the country is headed in the wrong direction. That's a view shared by more than eight out of 10 Minnesota voters. That's breaking decisively for Obama."
The poll also finds that Obama has a large lead over McCain among independent voters, Jacobs said. The poll finds that the Illinois senator has built a 33-point advantage over likely voters earning less than $50,000 a year, an indication that McCain's "Joe the plumber" strategy has not caught on here.
A Big Ten Battleground Poll of registered voters and those likely to register released last week also found Obama up 19 points in Minnesota. A Star Tribune Minnesota Poll of likley voters from two weeks ago found Obama with an 11-point lead in the state.
Speaking to about 4000 people at the Minneapolis Convention Center Thursday night, former U.S. President Bill Clinton gave a speech exhorting audience members to support U.S. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and Minnesota senatorial candidate Al Franken in the upcoming election on Nov. 4.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton (right) speaks at a rally on Oct. 30 in support of Barack Obama, Al Franken (pictured, left) and other Democratic candidates. 
"Barack Obama can lead us in changing the way Americans think about America, the role of government and the way we work together," Clinton said, according to the Associated Press. "We learned the other way is not worth a flip. We've got to work together."

Clinton — whose wife Hillary Clinton ran against Obama for the Democratic nomination earlier this year — has been accused in the past of not fully supporting Obama's presidency. He showed no lack of support for both Obama and Franken with whom he shared the stage. Franken is running against incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and independent candidate Dean Barkley.

According to Clinton, the Minnesota race is crucial. If Franken is elected, Clinton says he will be one more senator to help Obama run the country without major Republican opposition in the Senate. With 60 Democrats in the Senate, Democrats will be able to push legislation through without filibusters by GOP members, which can cause a bill to delay in passing or fail all together.

"Obama has a chance to rewrite the 21st century," Clinton said, according to the ''Star Tribune'', referring to the presidency of George W. Bush. "Let's go back and do it right this time. In order to do that, he's going to have to get some votes. ..." in Congress.

The Minnesota race is close. According to the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'', Sen. Coleman leads Franken 37.3 percent to 35.8 percent in an average of recent polls. 16 percent supported Barkley.

Before introducing Clinton, Franken thanked him for the support of him and his wife.

"I am privileged to say the Clintons are my friends," Franken said, according to the Star Tribune. "But more important, they are friends of the middle class, of working men and women in this state and this country I'm running to represent."

A Minnesota Public Radio News/University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute poll conducted this week found that 52 percent of likely voters supported Obama, while 41 percent supported GOP candidate John McCain. Clinton — who carried the state by a landslide in 1996 — did not hesitate to ask for more votes, telling the crowd: "I want you to do better than that for Barack Obama."

Clinton was the final speaker in a long list of Minnesota Democrats, including: former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, the mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, R. T. Rybak and Chris Coleman, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Mayor Coleman is not related to Senator Coleman, who also served as mayor of Saint Paul.

All of the speakers touched on continuing to work toward electing Obama, Franken and other Democrats to Minnesota seats in congress. Even with the 11-point lead Obama holds in the MPR poll, Obama campaign staff circulated the hall at the beginning on the rally and at the end asking attendees to volunteer their time going door-to-door and making phone calls to registered Democrats.

"Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States," Mayor Coleman said, according to the Associated Press. "But we've got to work to make it happen."