Tim Kaine stops in Minnesota as Hillary Clinton rests

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, flew to Minneapolis Wednesday for a fundraising event.

Kaine arrived at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport to a welcoming committee of a small group of volunteers. From there, Kaine made a short, impromptu stop at the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Memorial Union.

Kaine introduced himself to students and posed for some group pictures before heading off to his fundraising event at an undisclosed location by campaign officials.

This is only the second stop in Minnesota by the two major presidential campaigns since the Republican and Democratic national conventions.   Republican nominee Donald Trump held a fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center in August. He told supporters during the brief event that he would return to Minnesota.  A Minnesota Trump campaign spokesman said on Tuesday they would very much like for Trump to hold a rally in the state, but for now, the national campaign has not made any immediate plans.

Both the Trump and Clinton campaigns are focusing heavily on a small number of battleground states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. So far, Minnesota is not in the crosshairs for either campaign.  A recent Washington post/SurveyMonkey poll in Minnesota showed Clinton leading with 49 percent to Trump’s 41percent. In a four-way race including Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Clinton’s margin grew with 41percnet of Minnesota voters preferring Clinton and 35 percent supporting Trump.  Johnson came in with 15 percent and Stein with five. The online poll was conducted with 2,054 Minnesotans from Aug. 9 through September 1.

There was no press availability to Kaine during his Minneapolis fundraising stop. Reporters tried shouting questions to Kaine about whether he had spoken to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, but he walked away without answering. Clinton was temporarily off the campaign trail recovering from pneumonia, but expects to resume campaigning on Thursday.