Oberstar Wins Re-Election by The Oberstar Campaign Appearing in www.oberstar.org on 2008-11-05. DULUTH--Congressman Jim Oberstar won re-election to his 18th term by wide margins on Tuesday. Final results show Oberstar capturing nearly 68% of the vote to 32% for his opponent. As in all his previous elections, Oberstar won a majority of the votes in each county in his Northeast Minnesota congressional district. Oberstar will resume his post as Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 111th Congress. The Congress will convene in January with stronger Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a Democratic President. More of Oberstar’s bills are likely to reach the President’s desk and be signed due to the Democratic victories on Tuesday. “We're going to create a million new jobs with a job stimulus package that I held hearings on this past Wednesday that we'll move into law right after this President is sworn into office,” Oberstar said. Oberstar dedicated most of his victory speech to President-elect Barack Obama, hailing the Illinois Senator as a “transformational candidate [in a] transformational era.” “What we have with Barack Obama is a new social movement, a new structure of political organization, a ‘we the people’ organization that starts with the grass-roots of America and built its way all the way up to the top,” Oberstar said. “It’s an ownership political organization in which every neighborhood in America felt that they owned that campaign. The owned the campaign that produced an energy and enthusiasm and a sense of excitement that we haven’t seen since John F. Kennedy in 1960.” On Wednesday, Oberstar returned to Washington to begin planning for the 111th Congress when he will preside over the reauthorization of the surface transportation bill. This responsibility will allow Oberstar unmatched influence over the Federal government’s transportation investment over the next four years. The restoration of passenger rail service from Duluth to Minneapolis is expected to be one of his top priorities.

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