Throughout northern Minnesota, Cravaack holding rallies for every year Jim Oberstar has been in Congress

NORTH BRANCH – With Election Day just days away, Chip Cravaack is launching a sweeping barnstorming tour throughout all 18 counties of Minnesota’s 8th district where he will visit 36 communities in 96 hours. Over the next four days in northern Minnesota, Cravaack will headline 36 rallies, one for every year incumbent Jim Oberstar has been in Congress.

The “Final Countdown: 36 in 96″ tour begins at 10 a.m., Friday, at the Federal Courthouse in Duluth, where Cravaack will be joined by Congressman John Kline, the dean of Minnesota’s Republican congressional delegation.

“We are entering the final countdown to Election Day and I look forward to visiting with energized and enthusiastic residents from all corners of the 8th district,” said Cravaack, a 24-year Navy veteran recently endorsed by the Duluth News-Tribune. “For more than a year, Minnesotans have been telling me how tired they are of the failed job-killing policies of Jim Oberstar and Nancy Pelosi. Our finale barnstorming tour will convey to Minnesotans that, with their vote, help is on the way.”

At various stops in the tour, Cravaack will also appear with Independence Party candidate Tim Olson (who has endorsed Cravaack), Governor Tim Pawlenty, gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Senator Rod Grams, and several State House and Senate candidates.

Cravaack’s final sweep through the 8th district is punctuating an incredible month of October that started with a poll revealing Cravaack within three points of 18-term incumbent Oberstar, a strong position for a challenger heading down the final stretch of the race. Then, in a debate, Oberstar arrogantly scolded constituents and called them names causing a scene highlighted by national media. Just days later, the independent, non-partisan Cook Political Report, one of the nation’s most reputable firms which analyze elections and campaigns, announced that Oberstar’s seat in Congress was no longer “safe.” On Sunday, the Duluth News-Tribune endorsed Cravaack, marking the first time in Oberstar’s career that he didn’t receive the endorsement from the largest newspaper in the 8th district.

“Oberstar is hardly the embodiment of financial restraint and new direction,” the Duluth News-Tribune editorial stated. “His opponent, on the other hand, Republican Chip Cravaack, represents what Congress, including Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, needs at this critical crossroads in American history. A pro-business, fiscally conservative, former Navy captain, with a master’s degree in education, Cravaack has smarts. He is articulate, reasoned and composed. More critically, he has specific and promising strategies to pull the nation out of its financial funk.”

Cravaack, who the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) recently named to be part of its “Young Guns” program (“On the Radar”), is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve for 24 years. After retiring from the Navy, he was a pilot for Northwest Airlines and served as a union representative for the Air Line Pilots Association. Cravaack lives with his wife and two young sons in Lindstrom and was president of the local Parent Teacher Organization.