Last update: May 27, 2005 at 7:08 AM
Third-party candidate, DFLer to run for governor
Brian Bakst, Associated Press
May 27, 2005 GOV0527
StarTrib

ST. PAUL -- The lineup card for Minnesota's 2006 governor's race is starting to fill up.

Two more potential challengers to Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty took steps this week toward running. The Independence Party's Peter Hutchinson filed papers Monday forming a campaign committee and DFL state Sen. Steve Kelley scheduled a kickoff event for next week after filing his papers Wednesday.

Although the general election is 18 months off, this summer is considered decision time for possible candidates. Pawlenty hasn't officially said he will run for a second, four-year term. If he does, he has a virtual lock on the Republican nomination.

The fight for the DFL Party's nomination is where the action will be.When Kelly holds his Capitol steps rally, he will join Bud Philbrook, who is a former-legislator and the founder of a nonprofit-group, in the DFL field.

Two other big-name Democrats -- Attorney General Mike Hatch and Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson -- have put out feelers but are uncommitted to campaigns. State Sen. Becky Lourey of Kerrick also has been mentioned.

Kelley, a third-term senator from Hopkins, is one of the Pawlenty administration's leading critics. As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, he led the hearings that resulted in the ouster of Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke, and he helped draft the state's academic standards after disagreeing with Yecke's.

Kelley tried but failed to get the DFL's U.S. Senate nod in 2000.

"It will be an energetic campaign from the very beginning," Kelley said. He plans to abide by the party endorsement and not advance to the primary without it.

There's a benefit to being an early entrant, he said. "Every subsequent story includes your name."

Hutchinson could be a wild card in the race.

The Independence Party -- formerly the Reform Party in Minnesota -- has factored greatly into the last two gubernatorial campaigns, winning in 1998 with Jesse Ventura and polling in double digits in 2002 with ex-Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Penny.

Hutchinson is public-policy consultant. He served as finance commissioner under Gov. Rudy Perpich. He has also served as superintendent of Minneapolis schools and deputy mayor of Minneapolis.

ST. PAUL (AP)
Thanks to huge corn yields, strong livestock prices and large government payments, net farm income hit a statewide record in 2005, shows a study of Minnesota farm finances.

"The yields in southern Minnesota were outstanding, hog farms were very profitable and dairy farms had a pretty good year," said Dale Nordquist, associate director of the Center for Farm and Financial Management at the University of Minnesota.

But there are signs of trouble ahead. This year, soaring energy prices are a concern because they affect fuel and fertilizer prices, Nordquist said.

"The concern is, what happens if we don't get that bumper crop next year? It's not likely that livestock is going to continue to be as profitable as it was last year."

Loni Kemp, an analyst with the Minnesota Project, an agriculture policy group, said the dependence on subsidies and the diminishing advantages of exports are troublesome.

"Some numbers may look great, but in the big picture, the numbers for agriculture are not good at all," she said.