Governor

Former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, said on Thursday that he would not seek reelection no mater the outcome of his campaign for governor. Seifert stepped down as Minority Leader in June when he announced his campaign to replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who announced in June he wouldn’t be seeking a third term.

An already packed gubernatorial field for Democrats just got bigger with the addition of a high-profile DFLer: House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher announced this afternoon that she’s filed to run for governor.

Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, abandoned his exploratory committee for governor yesterday, citing fundraising difficulties and a refusal of many Republican activists to support an openly gay candidate, ECM Publishers reports.

Even as Norm Coleman’s prospects for regaining his Senate seat subside, his potential entry in the race to replace retiring Gov. Tim Pawlenty next year is getting a push in the media — if nowhere else.

Unlike Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent in Minnesota’s last great recount did not appeal to the state Supreme Court. Gov. Elmer L. Andersen faced, as Coleman has, a ruling by a specially empaneled court that his Democratic rival (Karl Rolvaag) had won more votes. But Andersen decided not to continue the legal battle. His full statement of [...]

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s job-approval rating is on such a steep decline — dropping 10 percentage points in three months — that it’s on track to dip even lower than the pluralities by which he was elected.

Senate Republicans already quietly signaled acceptance that Al Franken will take former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s old seat by agreeing to a tentative committee-assignment plan that factors in the Minnesota Democrat. Now comes news that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) may reconsider her plan to resign for a 2010 gubernatorial run. The reason, according to [...]

Sen. John Marty announced on Monday that he is organizing an exploratory campaign for governor. The 22-year senator of the suburbs north of St. Paul ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Arne Carlson in 1994 losing by a large margin.
“After receiving strong encouragement from health care reformers and others, Senator John Marty is launching an exploratory campaign [...]

Over the weekend, Rep. Tim Walz told reporters that he is not running for governor and — despite much rumor to the contrary — he never was. Walz told Minnpost’s Erik Black on Sunday, “I’m in the right position to help the people in my district in this critical time,” Walz said.
On rumors of a [...]

Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is calling for the resignation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a man with whom he shared a ticket but apparently little else except antipathy. According to Quinn, the two men haven’t spoken since Aug. 2, 2007. That was the day after the I-35W bridge fell in Minneapolis, an event that did not trigger estrangement between Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, who was then also Transportation Commissioner. But the distant relationship between Blagojevich and his second-in-command does have at least one parallel in Minnesota, from the time of the last great statewide election recount in 1962.