Sep 19, 2004 9:47 am US/Central
Austin, Minn. (AP) Garrison Keillor has turned into an above-average fundraiser for Democrats.
DFL officials said Keillor has raised more than $250,000 through personal appearances on behalf of candidates, along with generating plenty of excitement and enthusiasm for the party.
"This election is for the soul of our country," Keillor told an Austin audience of 350 during a recent fundraiser for DFLer Leigh Pomeroy, who is in an uphill battle to unseat 1st District Rep. Gil Gutknecht in southern Minnesota.
Pomeroy has taken plenty of dusty road trips in the family minivan, spent hot afternoons working small-town parades and long hours on the phone drumming up support. But last week at Austin's Paramount Theater, Pomeroy played to a packed house, pulled in $13,000 in contributions and basked in the media spotlight, all thanks to Keillor and his "Prairie Home Companion" radio fame. The fundraising is a followup to the release of Keillor's defiantly partisan book "Homegrown Democrat."
http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_263104940.html