Minnesota's Governor race in the news, blogs

Gubernatorial candidate Senator Becky Lourey is mentioned today in the Duluth News Tribune in this article by John Myers entitled "Campaigns becoming referendum on Iraq War" :

The war issue even is spilling into state races. DFL gubernatorial candidate Becky Lourey next week is expected to announce her "Minnesota Peace Initiative." The effort is being billed as a way for Minnesotans to use local and statewide opposition to the war to effect change in Washington.

Lourey is challenging DFL-endorsed Mike Hatch in the Sept. 12 primary, with the winner likely to face incumbent Tim Pawlenty. While Pawlenty has had close ties to the Bush administration, neither he nor Hatch have made the war much of an issue.

Part of Lourey's effort will bring anti-war governors together from across the nation, said Jim Robins, Lourey campaign spokesman.

"It (the war) is absolutely an issue, it's the issue, with what's going on in Iraq and with Israel and Hezbollah right now," Robins said. "The U.S. looks absolutely impotent to do anything about it."

Becky Lourey also appeared on KSTP-TV's "At Issue" with Tom Hauser on August 6th (video link).

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Incumbent Governor Tim Pawlenty gets some criticism from State Rep. Tom Rukavina in a letter to the editor in the Ely Timberjay

In cutting nearly $300 million in LGA, Governor Pawlenty and the Republicans didn’t save us from a tax increase. They instead decided to pass the buck to local governments to either cut vital services like police and fire protection or raise property taxes to pay for it. Instead of responsible governing, they balanced the budget on the backs of working Minnesotans through higher property taxes. Unlike income taxes, your property taxes can go up whether you’ve lost your job, gotten a pay cut, or retired. The 2003 cut caused a snowball effect with property taxes. According to the Minnesota House’s independent research office, total statewide property taxes went up by $1.2 billion since 2003 with most of that increase falling on homeowners. They are also expecting property taxes to jump another $685 million next year.

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Attorney General Mike Hatch take some heat from the State Legislative Auditor and others for making mention of his running mate in policy papers wriiten on his state office's letterhead. From an article by Patrick Sweeny in the Pioneer Press :

Last week, Minnesota Republican chairman Ron Carey urged Nobles to investigate Hatch's use of the stationery, plus several reports written by Hatch's attorney general's staff that are posted as "position papers'' on Hatch's gubernatorial Web site.

Nobles said he had contacted staff for both Hatch and Pawlenty and warned them against using state resources in their gubernatorial campaign. But he said he saw no need to launch the bigger investigation Carey sought.

With regard to the July 27 news release in which Hatch mentioned Dutcher, Noble said: "It just seemed to me clear on its face that, if you're going to call something an official statement of the attorney general's office, not a campaign document, you don't make a reference to your running mate."

Bloggers have wondered where Mike Hatch has been, and whether his lack of visibility on the campaign trail is a sign that he may not win the general election if he does survive the primary:

Jeff Fecke writes at Minvolved.com:

The question is not whether Hatch is scraping by, but whether his campaign is well-positioned to sustain a strong challenge to a popular governor, who also happens to be a skilled politician. And I’m not convinced it is.

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