Political Tea Time (No Tea Party Involved)

Here’s your Thursday evening roundup of tea time links.

The politics of Friday’s jobs report – Neil Irwin, Washington Post
Romney forces see Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota ripe for turning red – Dan Balz, Jerry Markon and Paul Kane, Washington Post
Senate 5: Todd Akin says he’s in the game – David Catanese, Scott Wong and Kate Nocera, Politico
Cory Booker to Newark residents: Come on over – Katie Glueck, Politico
Bloomberg Endorses Obama, Citing Climate Change – Raymond Hernandez, New York Times
How Does Bernie Sanders Do It? – John Nichols, The Nation

Demographic Voter Makeup: Minnesota

*Editor’s note: This is part two in a series that will break down the demographic statistics of voters in all six of FPP’S designated swing states plus the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Tomorrow Iowa and New Hampshire

A Republican hasn’t won Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes since Richard Nixon swept 49 states away from George McGovern in 1972. In what has been a solid Democratic state in the last nine presidential elections, recent polling has Mitt Romney siting just outside the margin of error and within striking distance with less than one week until Election Day.  The Obama campaign sent super surrogate and former President Bill Clinton to Minneapolis yesterday where he held two events trying to stop the bleeding. In 2008, Barack Obama defeated John McCain by 10%. Let’s take a closer look at the demographic make-up of the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
 

Population
Population: 5,303,925 (2010)
State rank: 21^st
Change since 2000 census: up 7.8%
Most populated cities
Minneapolis 382,578
St. Paul 285,068
Rochester 106,769
Duluth 86,265
Household Income
Under $15K: 10.6%
$15K-$50K: 33.3%
$50K-$100K: 34.5%
$100K-$200K: 17.6%
Over $200K: 4.0%
Median Income: $56,704

Read more after the jump