ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Democrats left their state convention rallying behind Barack Obama, but the party remained divided about whether Hillary Clinton should fill out the presidential ticket.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party activists gathered at Rochester's Mayo Civic Center for a three-day convention that ended Sunday said they are heading into the general election season confident of Obama's historic candidacy.
There is less agreement on whether Clinton, who ended her own run for president on Saturday, could help or hurt Obama's chances against Republican Sen. John McCain.
Even delegates to the state DFL Party convention who supported Clinton said they have no trouble backing Obama, who claimed himself the party's nominee in a St. Paul speech Tuesday night.
"I think it is time to move in a different direction," said state Sen. Dan Skogen of Hewitt, who was a delegate to the DFL convention and had supported Clinton. "I think Obama can better himself by choosing someone else."
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Delegate Colleen Michaelson, a St. Louis County social worker, said she wanted a Clinton presidency.
"I'm totally cool with Obama," she said Sunday.
Activists said Clinton's Saturday speech, which some Minnesota Democrats watched on monitors outside their convention, was important for the party to move forward.
"Hopefully it'll go a long ways toward healing," Michaelson said.
Obama could face difficulty among some rural Minnesotans, said delegate Nancy Larson of Dassel, who this weekend was elected a national committee woman from Minnesota.
"There are a certain number of people who have fears because he is different on many levels," she said.
Besides being black, which Larson said may take time for some people to accept, Obama approaches politics unlike most male politicians. Clinton addresses issues like most males, Larson said, while Obama tends to deal with matters more like many women, by listening to more people.
"People aren't used to that as much," Larson said.
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Delegate Bill Hedin of Mazeppa said he doubts rural Minnesotans will chose McCain over Obama.
"I don't perceive Minnesotans as being stereotypical" voters, he said.
Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, who was a top Clinton supporter in Minnesota, told activists their presidential differences are history and they need to get behind Obama.
"He has my full support and I hope that he will have all of yours," Dayton said. "The stakes are far too high for us to be divided and lose."
"If we're all united together, we will win in November," Dayton added.
SCOTT WENTE and DON DAVIS work for Forum Communications, which owns the Duluth News Tribune.
