To supporters, Obama camp says Minnesota race tighter than expected

The Obama campaign is telling its vast network of supporters that the race in Minnesota is tighter than they expected. Is it a ploy for a last minute get-out-the-vote push? Or is it real concern?

The Atlantic Monthly’s Marc Ambinger posts this reader tip:

I’m a student at Carleton College who has contributed (financially and with my time) to the Obama campaign. I just got an automated call from Jeff Blodgett, the chair of the MN campaign. The text of the call was:

“Hello, this is Jeff Blodgett from the Minnesota for Obama campaign. Our initial data shows this election is significantly closer than the polls predicted. We are putting out an urgent call for volunteers… We are organized groups to knock on doors at five P.M., or earlier if you can, for our final GOTV operation.” This was followed by different numbers to call based on your residence.

However, it seems Pennsylvania and Virginia supporters are also getting a similar message.

Friends — Barack needs your help now — our data indicates that the results will be very close in many states. I can’t emphasize enough how urgent this message is. Please go to http://my.barackobama.com/call and start calling as soon as you can. We are not going to hit our goal of 500,000 calls for today by 3pm Central, unless we get at least 2,000 more people calling for the next hour. Can you call now and continue for as long as you can manage? http://my.barackobama.com/call Thank you. Judith