How Important Is The Minnesota Caucus?

WORTHINGTON, MN - The past has proven that every state is different, no caucus is the same, and really, this primary season has been difficult to predict.

But for Minnesota, being the longest-running blue state, is there any hope for change as republicans head into their caucus Tuesday night?

Mixed feelings are circulating in Worthington, Minnesota, as the event nears.

"I felt like not even going because Minnesota is liberal, number one, and two, comes so far into the season here and they wait so long to have the caucus," Minnesota resident Allen Gratz said.

"There's nobody worth voting for. If you have to win on negative ads, I wouldn't vote for anybody like that. If they can win on their own record, they shouldn't even run," Wilmont, MN, resident Roy Hemmert said.

While feelings are mixed, many hope this year will be different from Minnesota's consistently liberal past.

"I think there is a lack of participation from what I have seen here in the past.  And I think people should really take this caucus seriously," Gratz said.

By doing that, voters need to recognize every vote does matter, which is something we have seen in the past.

"Every vote counts, we saw that in congressional elections where people we elected by less than 100 votes," Worthington Republican Party Chairman Paul Langseth said.

With that close vote in mind, the expectations for Tuesday's caucus are high.

"I'm expecting more than what I have see before, I'm sure hoping so anyway," Gratz said.

With high expectations, and even with the state's past, the consensus among Republican voters is clear.

"To have another Obama term is going to radically hurt our country," Langseth said.

"We are facing dyer consequences if we don't get the right man in to defeat Obama," Gratz said.

Worthington will hold its caucus Tuesday in the Worthington High School cafeteria. Minnesota caucuses begin at 7p.m.