Transcripts

BRANDT WILLIAMS: This is Brandt Williams. The candidates in the 5th District have been putting considerable effort into getting out the vote through literature and mailings. Late last week, the Alan Fine Campaign mailed out literature that targeted Keith Ellison, attempting to link him to Louis Farrakhan's nation of Islam and saying Ellison praises cop killers and gang members.

SPEAKER 1: Well, we just think characters are very important issue. We don't feel that the information has particularly gotten really out to the public about some of Keith Ellison's past.

BRANT WILLIAMS: Earlier this year, Ellison, a two-term state legislator, admitted that he'd had a history of unpaid parking tickets and unpaid back taxes. The Fine campaign mailer, which is also posted on Fine's website, says Ellison failed to obey the law, and Fine says he wants to make sure voters know this about Ellison before they go to the polls.

Ellison has denied that he's ever been a member of the Nation of Islam, and he says Fine's campaign tactic is unfortunate. On the day before the election, Ellison is making a whirlwind tour throughout the Twin Cities. Speaking on a cell phone from a nail salon in North Minneapolis, Ellison says he's trying to reach as many voters as he can.

KEITH ELLISON: We're going to make sure we talk to rich and poor, Black and white, Latino, Somali. We're going to make sure we talk to the business people downtown, to the small business people out in the neighborhoods. We're going to talk to the laborers. We're going to talk to the people of the Fifth Congressional District.

BRANDT WILLIAMS: A poll conducted by survey USA for KSTP-TV gives Ellison a 25-point lead over Alan Fine and a 27-point lead over independence party candidate Tammy Lee. Green Party candidate Jay Pond was favored by just 2% of responders. Lee says her numbers are probably better than those shown by the KSTP poll. Lee believes that the results of polls taken by members of her campaign's phone banks are showing that she's gaining on Ellison, and she says she's in a position to overtake Ellison on election day.

TAMMY LEE: On Friday, our internal polls had me about at 30%, and Keith Ellison had dropped to around 40%. So the momentum is all surging my way. This is exactly the same thing that happened in 1998, when Jesse Ventura won, so we are very optimistic about a Tuesday night win.

BRANDT WILLIAMS: While most of the heat in the 5th District race has been between the fine and Ellison campaigns, today, the Lee campaign lashed out at Ellison. The Lee campaign says it discovered that a supporter of Ellison is responsible for a website that lampoons Lee.

The site looks almost exactly like Lee's campaign website, except it contains statements that say Lee is the best candidate because she's white and contains links to white power sites. At the top of the website is a statement that says, warning, political satire, not associated with Tammy Lee for Congress. Reporting from Minneapolis. I'm Brandt Williams, Minnesota Public Radio News.