With the 2012 election still more than a year away, DFL contender Rick Nolan has already garnered a slew of big names on Minnesota’s Iron Range in his attempt to unseat Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack.

Iron Range natives Veda Ponikvar, former state Sen. George Perpich and former state Rep. Joe Begich have all declared their support for Nolan in recent days.

Joe Begich is a former state legislator and current member of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. He’s also the uncle of Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. Joe Begich announced his support for Nolan on Monday.

“With unemployment across the Range and throughout the Eighth District in double digits, with hardworking middle class families losing jobs and homes and hope, Iron Rangers need a leader and a champion again in Washington, and Rick Nolan’s the one,” Begich said in a statement. ”Rick Nolan was born here and grew up here. He lives here. He’s raised his family here. He hunts and fishes here. Rick understands our hopes and dreams and aspirations on the Range because he holds those same feelings for his family.”

Nolan glowingly accepted the endorsement.

“Joe Begich and his family helped inspire me to enter politics and public service,” Nolan said in a statement. “They set an example for me in terms of what it takes to fight for people and confront the special interests that continue to damage America.”

Nolan also picked up the support of another icon of the Range, Veda Ponikvar.

The Minnesota Historical Society described Ponikvar in its celebration of Minnesota’s 150 years of statehood back in 2007:

Writer, activist, historian and keeper-of-the-culture are only a few of the words which describe Veda Ponikvar and the deep influence she has had on the fabric of the Minnesota Iron Range and the entire state. At 28 she became the youngest and the first female newspaper publisher in the nation. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, Veda is an adventurous pioneer newspaperwoman who never forgot her love of country and her deep roots in Chisholm’s Mesabi Iron Range.

Ponvikar said in a statement that Nolan is a fighter for the people of the region.

“He will always fight for the Iron Range and do whatever he can to make it prosper. Rick understands that by strengthening northern Minnesota mining, we strengthen our state and nation’s economic stability,” Ponvikar said. “I urge Iron Rangers to support Rick Nolan for the DFL endorsement to defeat Chip Cravaack in 2012, and be our next truly great, caring, hard working congressman.”

The Minnesota Progressive Project notes that another Ranger has offered his support for Nolan. Former state Sen. George Perpich, brother of Gov. Rudy Perpich, hosted a fundraiser for Nolan in South Minneapolis Thursday.

Nolan has picked up the lion’s share of endorsements on the Range thus far in the 2012 election cycle. Also running are former state Sen. Tarryl Clark who lost a 2010 bid to oust Rep. Michele Bachmann, and Jeff Anderson, a member of the Duluth City Council.

Cravaack won the district in 2010, defeating James Oberstar who had held the seat for decades. The district had been represented by a DFLer for much of the 20th Century.

Alaska’s result has reverberations in Minnesota mostly because both states have yet-undecided races on which Democrats’ chances for a 60-vote filibuster-proof bloc in the Senate depend.

But another echo between Minnesota and Alaska has been sounding this year, as Stevens’ trial and conviction increased the likelihood that his colleagues might soon bounce him from his seat should he win it again. And that would leave Gov. Sarah Palin in a situation somewhat akin to Wendell Anderson’s when he was governor of Minnesota and U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale was elected vice president in 1976.

Anderson resigned and was appointed to replace Mondale in the Senate by his own replacement in the governor’s mansion, Rudy Perpich. Voters punished both men two years later, denying them re-election. Alaska law seems to allow Palin to appoint a temporary replacement but requires a special election within three months.

If Stevens is the winner after the last Alaska vote is counted tomorrow, what advice would Anderson have for Palin? Reached at his office today, Anderson asked to be reminded about the scenarios in the Far North, then demurred for the time being. “Let’s wait and see what happens,” he said.

More intriguing to Anderson at the moment is the possibility of a victory for Stevens’ Democratic rival, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who is a relative of the politically active Begich clan of northern Minnesota. His uncle, Joe Begich, was mayor of his hometown of Eveleth, Minn., before nine terms representing District 6A in the Minnesota Legislature. (Joe continues to serve the area as a member of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.)

Gov. Wendell Anderson was on what became an iconic Time cover Aug. 13, 1973, illustrating the story, "Minnesota: A State That Works."

But the idea that Palin would be wise to study Anderson’s precedent has been rampant on the Internet at least since her star began its rapid rise in August — and to a surprising degree for what some might consider a significant footnote on the national political scene. And Palin has apparently done that homework, or has at least considered the choices that Providence might put before her: whether to appoint herself to the Senate (temporarily) or run in a special election. Last week she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer the latter option was a possibility, but not the former (video, Senate discussion at 6:00 mark).

The high cost Anderson paid for his two years in the Senate can’t be his favorite topic of discussion. But he agreed to talk again after the dust has settled in Alaska.