 Click here or scroll down.Parties report caucus results Both Democrats and Republicans turned out on Feb. 7 in Pine County to take part in Minnesota Caucus 2012 Republicans In the race for the Republican nomination for president, Rick Santorum was the nonbinding winner in Pine County. With a total of 277 Republicans voting. Santorum received 126 votes; Ron Paul received 82 votes; Mitt Romney received 40 votes; and Newt Gingrich received 29 votes. The Pine County Republicans reported that there were 52 delegates and 57 alternate delegates elected to participate in the county convention at Hinckley High School on March 1, or 109 people in all. Pine County Republican Chairman Rudy Takala noted that the Republican presidential race is far from over. “With only 14 percent of Pine County’s Republicans caucus-goers voting for ‘front-runner’ Mitt Romney, it shows that middle America is still looking for a different candidate,” Takala said. “If party leadership tries to promote him as the nominee when few Republicans want him as the nominee, it could lead to friction similar to what we’ve seen in Iowa and Nevada, where both GOP chairmen have been forced to resign in the last month.” Democrats A total of 134 Pine County Democrats came out to the caucus on Feb. 7. In the race to see who will take on incumbent U.S. Representative Chip Cravaack in the fall, Rick Nolan came in first in Pine County with 102 votes, Tarryl Clark received 21 votes, Jeff Anderson received 10 votes and other candidates received two votes. For president, Barack Obama received 120 votes, while there were 10 votes for other candidates. Pine County DFL leader Thom Petersen said that that the Pine County group voted in favor of reinstating the Homestead Tax Credit “Several different precincts passed resolutions opposing the the marriage amendment, requiring a photo ID, the right-to-work amendment and ... requiring a two-thirds majority to raise taxes,” Petersen explained. “There was a lot of opposition in general to legislating by constitutional amendment.” Petersen said Senator Tony Loury visited the caucus, as did Minnesota House candidates Nathan Johnson and Tom Ladwing, Jr. Chris McHugh spoke for Tim Faust, the third potential House candidate. |
