bakkDemocrat Tom Bakk is running for governor. The state senator from Virginia made it official yesterday. Bakk originally set up an exploratory committee and began raising money roughly a year ago. The chair of the Senate’s Taxes Committee was a strong advocate during the recently completed legislative session for increasing taxes on the state’s wealthiest citizens in order to resolve the state’s budget problems, in stark contrast to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s no-new-taxes stance.

Bakk is part of a crowded field on both sides of the aisle. Former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner and state Sen. John Marty are all in on the DFL side, with at least a half dozen others actively eyeing the race.

The GOP field was thrown wide open last week when Pawlently announced that he would not seek a third term. So far state Reps. Laura Brod and Paul Kohls, state Sens. David Hann and Paul Koering, former State Auditor Patricia Anderson, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, former House Majority Leader Steve Sviggum and former Pawlenty chief of staff Charlie Weaver have all expressed some level of interest in the race.