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Vice President Campaigns for Congressman Rick Nolan

VP Joe Biden made a stop at UMD today to voice is support for Nolan

With less than two weeks left until Election Day, Democratic Congressman Rick Nolan brought out a heavyweight to help defend his seat in the House of Representatives.Vice President Joe Biden spoke to a crowd at UMD to voice his support for Congressman Nolan, with the hopes to swing one of the closest races in the country back to the left.Biden was hailed as the “main event” at a campaign rally on campus at UMD, but make no mistake: he’s not here for presidential politics.He’s here for Rick Nolan.“Rick grew up 1200 miles from where I lived,” Biden told the crowd at the Romano Gymnasium.  “But we grew up in the same neighborhood.  1200 miles apart, but the same values.”Congressman Nolan is in a highly contested race with an opponent he knows well – Republican challenger Stewart Mills.“And now in this election contest we have an opponent in this district – opponents from all over the country – who want to roll back a century of progress,” Nolan said.  “That’s what this election is all about.”Hours before Vice President Biden stepped up to the podium, hundreds waited patiently for their chance to get in, see the VP speak, and show their own support for Congressman Nolan.“We’ve had dealings with Congressman Nolan,” said US Army veteran Whitebird.  Whitebird was personally invited to the rally Nolan and his staff.“Nolan – he’s helped our veterans and I got to know him that way,” Whitebird said.  “He’s very helpful.  That’s why we’re here to support him.”It was an all ages crowd at the campaign rally; we ran into some students from Duluth East High School, a few of which are eager to vote for the first time in their lives.“We’re the future,” said Duluth East senior Chandi Katoch.  “We’re going to be voting – some of us now, some of us eventually.  We deserve to know who we’re voting for and what they stand for.”The students are eager to hear about the issues that matter most to them.“I think for sure loans and student funding for college and public education,” Katoch said.And while Vice President Biden did talk a bit about college education and a bit about Social Security and Medicare, he spent most of his time talking about America’s middle class.“All of us on this stage have seen too many people from Duluth through the Iron Range stripped of both their jobs and their dignity, through no fault of their own,” Biden told the crowd. “Everything Rick’s talking about – unlike his opponent and their candidate for president – is about growing the economy, giving everyone a chance.”And with signs waving, a crowd of mostly Nolan supporters heard the standing vice president of the United States leave them with one last message of hope and optimism.”We may be ordinary but we Americans, we never bend,” Biden said, raising his voice with a fist in the air.  “We never bow.  We never give up.  We always prevail.  We are America.  There’s nothing we can’t do!”According to three polls of likely voters released earlier this month, two have Congressman Nolan ahead by just a few percentage points; the other has Mills at a four point advantage.Nolan won the race for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District by just one percentage point in 2014.