Television ads from President Obama and Mitt Romney are coming to Minnesota — but they're small buys, and, at least in Obama's case, targeted at Wisconsin voters.
An Obama campaign official said their Twin Cities ad buy is "very small" and focused on voters in the seven western Wisconsin counties that get Twin Cities television. The campaign has previously run ads, on TV or on the radio, in the Rochester and Duluth markets, but only because they bleed into battleground states.
The campaign isn't releasing the size of the buy, but the official said it was worth less than 1 percent of the campaign's last two weeks of expenses.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Romney was also hitting the airwaves in Minnesota. ABC News says the buy is worth less than $50,000 and, like Obama, focused on Wisconsin voters.
The Obama campaign said it's confident Minnesota will give its 10 electoral votes to the president (though the official said they're "not taking anything for granted"). Public polling shows Obama with a lead in the state, though the latest one, a Rasmussen survey, found one of his smallest margins yet — 5 points.
Neither Romney nor running mate Paul Ryan have visited Minnesota for anything other than fundraising. Beside a few stops from second lady Jill Biden, the last major Obama campaign visit was a two-stop Joe Biden swing in August.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com