Reactions from most political quarters have been predictable.

Margaret Anderson Kelliher:

“This race for governor is about the people and the future of Minnesota, and I believe voters are ready for honest solutions to the issues we face. I congratulate Tom Emmer on winning the Republican Party endorsement and I look forward to a spirited and civil campaign as we talk to voters all across the state.”

DFL chair Brian Melendez:

“The Republican Party today blessed the more inflammatory of its two leading candidates and, swayed by a last-minute personal appeal from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, endorsed state representative Tom Emmer as the Republican gubernatorial candidate. Emmer made news last week when he joined other Republican legislators in proposing a state constitutional amendment that would let a legislative minority block federal legislation in Minnesota. He made news this week when he embraced immigration proposals that even staunch conservatives say go too far. And while he was grandstanding for his Tea Party base about wedge issues, Minnesotans continue to struggle with economic hardships amidst historic job losses.”

Newt Gingrich:

“Last November, Republicans elected two great conservative governors: Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey. They followed up with an earth-shattering election in Massachusetts, delivering Ted Kennedy’s former seat to a conservative Republican. America wants to turn the tide on the unprecedented expansion of government they see on all levels. Minnesota has a great opportunity this fall to continue in that tradition by electing two principled conservatives in Tom Emmer and Annette Meeks. Tom Emmer is a citizen politician in the best tradition of American democracy. Annette Meeks has devoted her life to the advancement of our conservative movement. I’m proud to endorse the Emmer / Meeks ticket and look forward to helping elect them this fall.”

Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Nathan Daschle:

“With a last-minute blessing from Sarah Palin, Tom Emmer tonight claimed the Minnesota Republican nomination for governor. Emmer, who has spent his career as a rubberstamp for Tim Pawlenty’s reckless management, has promised to continue his irresponsible and disastrous agenda. Whether it’s denying health care to veterans or increasing class sizes, Emmer’s record is one of putting Tim Pawlenty’s agenda before Minnesota families. Minnesotans want more jobs, not more Tim Pawlenty.

Our strong Democratic candidates have a vision for rebuilding Minnesota that embraces the optimism of the people of state. They know that together Minnesotans can strengthen our schools, create good jobs and restore our prosperity.”

On the sixth ballot, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher edged out Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak Saturday to become the DFL-endorsed candidate for governor. “DFLers, are you ready to make some history?” Kelliher asked the crowd at the party’s convention in Duluth: She’s the first woman gubernatorial candidate endorsed by a major party in Minnesota history.

According to Smart Politics, her endorsement is also somewhat unique in the Midwest. While Democrats in Iowa have endorsed a female candidate for governor twice, it’s never happened in Wisconsin or South Dakota.

Kelliher will immediately get the backing of party leaders. On Monday, Sen. Al Franken, Reps. Tim Walz, Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, state Sen. John Marty and Rep. Paul Thissen will appear at a rally in Bloomington as part of a statewide tour.

But opponents were quick on the attack. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, a group opposed to all abortions as well as comprehensive sex education, criticized Kelliher, who has the endorsement of EMILY’s List.

“Anderson Kelliher is an extremist on the issue of abortion,” said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach in a statement. “She has never heard of an abortion she didn’t support or want to force taxpayers to pay for.”

While conservative groups launch their attacks on Kelliher, she will face a primary challenge on Aug. 10 by two candidates who have significant resources; Matt Entenza and Mark Dayton have significant family financial resources to draw from. (Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner will also be running in the primary.)

“This is really going to be Margaret versus two Goliaths,” Kelliher said on Saturday.

“On to the primary,” Reed told In-Forum. “We know that primary voters are a very different group of people than the people who attend the endorsement process.”

Reed’s campaign offered this tweet following Clark’s endorsement. “Thank you for all of your support at the Convention today- looking forward to a spirited summer of campaigning against Michele Bachmann!”

Clark and the DFL took swipes at Bachmann once the results were known.

“Our grassroots campaign has reached out to every corner of this district, and I’m proud to have earned their overwhelming support,” said Clark. “Today — together — we begin in earnest the fight to bring an end to Michele Bachmann’s agenda. Michele Bachmann is free to pursue her agenda on her own time, but no longer on the people’s dime.”

“For far too long, the people of the sixth district have had an absent, ineffective representative in Congress, while suffering the highest foreclosure rates in Minnesota,” said State DFL Chair Brian Melendez. “They deserve a leader who will work every day to bring jobs back to the sixth congressional district. Tarryl Clark is that kind of leader.”

Last weekend, Bachmann won the endorsement of the Republican Party of Minnesota.

The recession sees the major dailies’ editorialists cutting back on costly opinions — by either picking favorites without naming the issues they like them for, as both the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune did in the U.S. Senate race, or beating a wholesale retreat from making a pick at all, as the St. Paul Pioneer Press did in the presidential contest.

The right-wing slide of the dailies’ editorial pages drew wide notice — and the Strib’s pick of Republican Sen. Norm Coleman is a milestone in that descent — but the two Twin Cities rags’ simultaneous tilt away from judging candidates on issues is just as remarkable.

In its 2002 endorsement of Sen. Paul Wellstone’s stand-in, former Vice President Walter Mondale, over Coleman and Dean Barkley, the Strib editorial board wrote:

The agenda promoted by President Bush and largely embraced by candidate Coleman looks like this: shortchanging children and skimping on the elderly; committing the nation to endless consumption of fossil fuels; favoring corporate America over working America; bullying U.S. allies and neglecting U.S. neighbors; and mortgaging the federal budget so that Congress can keep a tax cut tilted heavily toward the rich. That’s not much of a future — yet it could become reality if just one Senate seat shifts from Democratic to Republican hands.

This year, the Strib editorial board wants to see Coleman stay in the Senate, but it’s silent on the particulars of what he ought to do there.

The leadership qualities that he has developed ought to matter more in this year’s election than at other times, when issues might count for more. The world is changing rapidly. Today’s issues may not be tomorrow’s.

The Pioneer Press wouldn’t go there, either, in its endorsement of Coleman over the weekend. Issues, smissues:

We do not agree with either party’s approach to every issue. We know there are those who will vote based purely on those issues or on party allegiance. You don’t need our help to do that. We try to get away from the scorecard and look at the candidates in full. On that basis, we see Coleman as a gifted politician who could help forge a new national consensus without abandoning his conservative principles.

But in its 2002 endorsement of Coleman, the PiPress didn’t have a problem naming issues:

We also have reservations about Mondale’s abiding faith in big government … an enthusiasm for high taxes and command-and-control economic policies that we cannot fully share. A particular worry grows from the need for Washington to find the political courage to modernize America’s great entitlement programs for the elderly — Social Security and Medicare. … In summary, we believe Coleman’s basic priorities are sound — containing federal spending and taxes, strengthening defense, and facing the challenge of restructuring entititlement programs while adding prudent, affordable prescription drug coverage within Medicare.

The PiPress that year mustered the guts to opine in the midst of the pre-election tumult following Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death; but this time around, taking a side in a presidential contest two years in the making proved too much. So the Strib’s Obama-Coleman picks on Sunday stand out not only for their ticket-splitting but for finding their way to print at all.

Here are some other Minnesota newspapers’ endorsements in federal races, with excerpts to show that most managed to cite issues to back up their picks:

Minnesota Daily for Dean Barkley, Independence Party U.S. Senate candidate:

The Barkley campaign strives to be “issues-based” and runs only positive ads. Among other principled ascetics vowed by Barkley is a refusal to pander. He countered Franken’s $5,000 college student tax credit proposal with discipline: “I’m not going to … promise tax credits and new programs because we’re basically $11 trillion in debt.”

St. Cloud Times for Barkley:

… [H]is stands on many issues, while far from shocking, invoke a sense of realism and moderation missing from the Coleman and Franken campaigns. For example, he supports capping federal spending the next four years to put America on track toward reducing the federal debt.

Marshall Independent for Coleman:

Coleman knows this region of the state, and he’s well-schooled and accessible on issues particular to our area such as the Minnesota Highway 23 corridor. We haven’t always agreed with Coleman’s stances or his votes in the past and it’s likely we won’t in the future, but he’s shown himself to be knowledgeable on energy, transportation and other important rural issues.

Rochester Post-Bulletin for Coleman:

We applaud his opposition to drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and we admire the fact that he’s played a key role in creating a new national energy policy.

Mesabi Daily News for Coleman:

Coleman has been a champion of mining initiatives, including his wholehearted support of non-ferrous ventures of PolyMet near Hoyt Lakes and Franconia Minerals on Birch Lake near Babbitt.

The American Jewish World (newspaper of the state’s Jewish community) for Franken:

Franken has proposed a number of initiatives to aid our rural economy, expand educational opportunities and access to health care, and develop sustainable alternative energy options to grow jobs and redress the outflow of dollars to foreign oil producers. If the federal government can come up with $700 billion for Wall Street bankers (the New York Times reported the cost of the bailout at $2.25 trillion), surely we can prioritize money for a bailout of our cities and crumbling infrastructure.

St. Cloud Times for Elwyn Tinklenberg, DFL candidate for U.S. House:

He is an ardent supporter of improving transportation options, … backs reforming No Child Left Behind and … advocates for a responsible withdrawal of U.S forces from Iraq and an increased U.S. presence in Afghanistan. … Incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann has simply made too many serious errors in judgment to deserve a second term.

Rochester Post-Bulletin for Tim Walz, DFL -1st District:

The Post-Bulletin endorses Tim Walz for a second term in the First District, because after less than 22 months in office, we’re impressed by his level of involvement in significant, meaningful legislation. His fingerprints are all over the new Farm Bill, and he was the driving force behind an increase in the mileage reimbursement rate for veterans who must travel to receive medical care. He’s also been a staunch advocate for wind energy and other renewable fuels that already are bringing jobs to the First District.

Star Tribune for Walz and U.S. Rep. John Kline, R – 2nd District:

Democratic incumbent Tim Walz has earned a return trip to the U.S. House after an energetic first term focused on high-profile issues in his southern Minnesota district — agriculture, veterans’ affairs and renewable energy. … Kline has stressed the role of diplomacy and the power of economic sanctions.

And as posted here last week, the Eden Prairie News and Coon Rapids Herald for Erik Paulsen (R) and Ashwin Madia (DFL) in the U.S. House, respectively.

“This meeting is subject to cancellation without further notice. If every endorsed candidate in a statewide primary wins the primary, which appears very likely, then the meeting is automatically cancelled,” stated DFL State Chair Brian Melendez.

DFL State wide endorsed slate
United States Senator  Amy Klobuchar
Governor / Lieutenant Governor  Mike Hatch / Judi Dutcher
Attorney General  Steve Kelley
Secretary of State  Mark Ritchie
Auditor  Rebecca Otto

If any of these candidates don’t come out of the primaries the DFL State Central Committee will meet and “will include consideration of an endorsement in any statewide election in which a non-endorsed candidate wins the primary,” Melendez stated in an e-mail to Central Committee Members. Such a re-endorsement is not a gaurntee.

If the DFL State Central Committee does opt to endorse a new candidate it will be the second time this year. They endorsed Steve Kelley for Attorney General after Matt Entenza dropped out of the race, that endorsement and the choice to endorse anyone was met with oposition and disapproval from some members. Kelley was the only candidate who was seeking the endorsement. (Bill Luther and Lori Swanson are the other DFLers who are running in the primary.)