“The decision was made a long time ago not to run, regardless of how the governor’s race goes and before Governor Tim Pawlenty announced he was not seeking re-election,” Seifert said. He held a press conference in Marshall Thursday morning and has another one scheduled for St. Paul this afternoon.

Another leader at the Legislature, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, told the Star Tribune on Monday that she won’t be seeking reelection either. Kelliher is running for the DFL nomination for governor. She won’t step down as House Speaker, but she says she “won’t be the speaker in 2011.”

The Minnesota Progressive Project caught that scoop back in November.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning … 

ST. PAUL: Seifert tops GOP straw poll. State Reps. Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer and former state auditor Pat Anderson are the state party’s preferred global-warming deniers for governor. [ECM Publishers]

WINONA: A town hall on Afghanistan. U.S. Rep. Tim Walz will host it Friday. [Winona Daily News]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Somalia prez speaks. Sharing the stage with Sharif Sheik Ahmed at Northrop Auditorium were U.S. Sen. Al Franken, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. [Minnesota Daily]

MINNEAPOLIS: Nazis go home. “Triumph of the Will” it was not, as counter-protesters made the Midway YWCA safe for a seminar about white privilege. [Twin Cities Daily Planet]

TWIN CITIES: St. Paul Pioneer Press congratulates Star Tribune with full page ad. Because Hallmark doesn’t sell “Getting out of bankruptcy” cards. [Minnesota Public Radio]

MINNEAPOLIS: Rosemary Williams is D.C.-bound. She’ll bring her foreclosure protest to a demonstration outside the National Building Museum today for World Habitat Day. [Minnesota Public Radio]

Photo: nd.gov

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has perfected the political backpedal over the past few months, pressing forward then pulling back on one issue after another. He started on topics like whether he’d sign an election certificate for the Franken-Coleman winner or accept federal stimulus money, then moved on to death panels, states’ rights to opt out of health care reform and a president’s prerogative (or lack thereof) to talk to schoolchildren. On Wednesday T-Paw tried a new trick: what Minnesota Democrats are calling a “knee-jerk” policy move, as he tries to catch up with the political momentum behind hating on ACORN. 

Pawlenty ordered all departments of state government to immediately stop cash transfers to ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) — without apparent concern for whether the state actually funds the group. (It doesn’t.)

But the Republican governor was in a hurry to catch up with the critics, who by then included Minnesota’s U.S. senators (both Democrats). And Pawlenty, a presidential prospect, was within hours of getting pre-empted in castigating ACORN by a guy gunning for the job he’s willingly leaving: state Rep. Marty Seifert, a leading GOP candidate for governor in 2010. Seifert was pressing Pawlenty on the issue and had an anti-ACORN press conference planned for today.

Here’s an excerpt from the statement by Brian Melendez, Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party chair:

[T]he governor has leaped before he looks, clearly more concerned with scoring political points than with dealing in reality. Yesterday’s directive is just the governor’s latest knee-jerk political reaction to the topic du jour. While the governor’s action might make sense if the state actually had any dealings with ACORN, it’s not too much to expect that he find the answer to that simple question before he tries to leap into executive action.

It’s bad enough that Governor Pawlenty has begun moving closer and closer to Representative Michele Bachmann’s extreme right-wing ideology. But now he is even adopting her tactic of making politically expedient claims without any factual basis. If the Governor continues to abandon Minnesotans to pursue his national ambitions, and keeps jumping at every nonsensical chance for political opportunism, then he will share yet another trait with Representative Bachmann — total ineffectiveness.

State Sen. Mike Jungbauer

No Republican contenders in the 2010 gubernatorial contest — except environmental activist Leslie Davis — believe in global warming, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio. Perhaps most strident is state Sen. Mike Jungbauer (East Bethel), who told attendees at a recent State Fair debate that global warming is “pure, unadulterated BS.”

While the other GOP contenders were less colorful in their declarations, none would own up to believing that climate change owing to human activity is a credible, significant issue. House Minority Leader Marty Seifert (Marshall) declared such concerns to be “theoretical.” Rep. David Hann (Eden Prairie) labeled global warming an “excuse” to shift towards alternative energy sources.

Their stance is in contrast to current Gov. Tim Pawlenty — as well as mainstream scientific opinion.

There is, however, one Republican gubernatorial hopeful who acknowledges the validity of global warming: Leslie Davis, a perennial candidate and environmental activist. He’s highly unlikely to end up being the party’s nominee.

The booth will cost the Draft R.T. group $938, according to State Fair spokesperson Brienna Schuette, and is the only late addition to the off-year lineup of political booths at the fair.

Draft R.T. will tap a group of about 15 volunteers to staff the booth, according to executive committee members Kent Ortner and John Sylvester, who add:

We plan to speak with people who stop by the booth about why we feel that R.T.’s record of tangible, sustainable answers to pressing policy issues makes him an ideal candidate for governor.

Rybak has experience on the other end of such political draft projects. One of Rybak’s claims to fame (and a chit he presumably redeems from time to time) is his early support of the Draft Obama movement.

[Thanks to MnIndy commenter Rocky for the tip.]

Photo: KSTP-TV

Updated: As first reported by the Minnesota Independent, only one candidate for any office has his own booth at the Minnesota State Fair: Republican state Rep. Marty Seifert. And now his staff is evoking the memory of another State Fair, another booth and another candidate for governor: Jesse Ventura.

Seifert is only one among the legion of hopefuls seeking to replace retiring Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2010. The general election is more than 14 months away, but a State Fair booth is still a heckuva deal at $750, a Seifert campaign spokesman told KSTP-TV yesterday as he tacked campaign signs to the volunteer-built superstructure.

The booth helps Seifert stand out from the crowd, as it did for Ventura, whose “Retaliate in ‘98″ campaign turned a corner during the 1998 fair, just weeks before his surprise third-party victory in the general election for governor. As Seifert campaign spokesman Ben Zierke told KSTP’s Tom Hauser:

This is a political place, the Minnesota State Fair, as you mentioned. Jesse Ventura, just down the block here, you know, when he ran for governor.

From Jacob Lentz’s 2001 book “Electing Jesse Ventura: A Third-party Success Story“:

Of course, politicians had booths. And Jesse Ventura had a booth.

Ventura had an inexpensive opportunity to reach — and charm — a large percentage of the state’s voters on an individual level. His booth was almost always swamped with people who may have been less excited about his candidacy than the entertainment value of his green and black “Ventura for Governor” bumper stickers and black T-shirts with “Retaliate in ‘98″ written across the chest in neon-green lettering. …

Ted Mondale was at his own booth, campaigning for the DFL nomination, and said of Ventura, “This guy worked insanely hard. I was at the state fair campaigning, and Jesse was always there, from morning till night.” Dane Smith, a longtime Twin Cities political reporter, remembered Ventura’s performance as the first time he took serious notice of the man. …

They passed out nearly 8,000 green and black bumper stickers … and over 6,000 buttons. The state fair also gave a huge boost to the popularity of “Retaliate in ‘98″ T-shirts, which were later sold over the Internet and at all campaign events. … Perhaps most important, Ventura’s popularity at the fair convinced Bill Hillsman, the ad guru who would eventually join Ventura’s campaign, that Ventura had a chance to win and was worth Hillsman’s energy.

The 2010 campaign for governor may be underway, but it’s still 2009. Volunteers will staff his booth 12 hours per day, but Seifert’s own daily shift will only be for one to two hours.

Ventura, famously, didn’t have time to bleed. But he made time for the Minnesota State Fair.

Seifert and his volunteers will be giving not only their time but also their money to the fair. Politicians, even those with booths, don’t get free passes, State Fair spokeswoman Brienna Schuette tells the Minnesota Independent:

The Minnesota State Fair has an “everyone pays” gate policy, so everyone entering the fairgrounds must present an admission ticket, including politicians and elected officials. No politicians or elected officials have asked us for free tickets this year.

UPDATE: Zierke tells MnIndy the Seifert campaign is paying for volunteers’ tickets to the fair.

Here is the KSTP report:

Photo: Minnesota Independent

Is Michele Bachmann running for governor? There certainly doesn’t seem to be any credible indication that the 6th Congressional District representative is seriously mulling a bid for the state’s top elected office. But Daily Kos readers could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

In a post announcing his decision to run the gubernatorial campaign of Matt Entenza, Kos contributor Dana Houle manages to mention Bachmann no fewer than five times. By contrast, no Republican who is actually running for governor merits a mention.

We continue to hear speculation that she may run for Governor. And being a governor is usually a good platform from which one could run for President. And Michele Bachmann is waiting for the call from God to tell her to run.

I expect it to be a lot of fun working with Matt and helping him get elected governor of Minnesota. But it will be even more fun if along the way we get to defeat Michele Bachmann.

Is Houle is privy to some inside dope about Bachmann’s electoral plans? Not likely. But nothing elevates the heartbeats (and opens the wallets) of the liberal blogosphere like the prospect of unseating the flamboyant Republican. Raising the specter of, say, Marty Seifert occupying the governor’s mansion just doesn’t have the same effect.

Photo: seifertforgovernor.com

One of the GOP contenders for governor has a theory about why state party leaders stopped a straw poll at Farmfest last week. “Apparently because it favored me,” explained state Rep. Marty Seifert. “They felt there was too much bias in favor of me.”

The party’s explanation: The poll would distract from an official straw poll in October.

Seifert grew up near the site of Farmfest, so he may have had a home-field advantage in the aborted straw poll.

He’s serious about his festivals: Seifert for Governor is the only campaign with a booth at the Minnesota State Fair this year.

Another Marty, State Sen. John Marty, triumphed in a straw poll at a DFL gathering on a farm north of Austin last last month.

Photo: seifertforgovernor.com

Of nearly 40 announced or possible candidates for governor in 2010, only one will have his own booth at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair. In fact, not counting Minnesota’s sitting U.S. senators, Republican state Rep. Marty Seifert will be the only politician with a booth this year.

According to a State Fair spokesperson, the Seifert for Governor campaign booth will be on Nelson Street, near the Giant Slide (P-27 on the map below).

The State Fair’s political list (pdf) does include parties — including the Green, Constitution, Republican, Independence and DFL parties — as well as the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

The deadline for applying for a booth was Aug. 1.

One other candidate who has filed to run for governor had planned to have a booth but has since decided against it. That is Chris Wright, a founder of the Minnesota Grassroots party and its gubernatorial candidate in 1998.

The VoteWright.org campaign will push biomass gasification as the route to energy independence for Minnesota, Wright said, using trash and recyclables as well as crops such as switchgrass, flax and, yes, hemp.

Wright said he and running mate Dale Wilkinson determined they didn’t have the $600 (plus a cut of any retail sales) that the Fair charged for the kind of booth they wanted, but they hope to have a Fair presence next year, closer to the actual election.

Seifert’s campaign did not return a message.

Zellers replaces Rep. Marty Seifert, who took over the post in 2006. Seifert is stepping down in order to explore a run for governor.

Republicans controlled the House from 1999 to 2006, but have lost seats in each of the last three election cycles. Democrats currently hold a 87-47 majority.