2010 Minnesota Governor’s Race

Check here for the latest news about the 2010 governor’s race.

Explanatory notes

1. “Exploring/Running” means the candidate is just that, exploring a candidacy or openly running. You’ll note we did not account for those potential candidates who insist they are being drafted or solicited to run. That old saw is meant to nurture the thinking that if but not for all that “organic” cajoling, the candidate wouldn’t get in the race. To that, we’ve always said “BS.” Someone either wants to run for office or not. We’ve got question marks in the columns for people whose names are consistently on lists, but who haven’t made a public statement either way. When someone says he or she is definitely not running, we’ll drop that person to the “Confirmed not running” list below the matrix.
2. “Announced” means that person has officially announced he or she is running.
3. “Filed” means that a campaign committee has been officially filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board (CFB).

We made the distinction between “announced” and “filed” because many times candidates won’t officially announce until long after they’ve filed committees to legally raise money. [These candidates want that "I'm being begged" factor, but also, getting out there and trying to raise money helps many candidates decide whether to formally announce.]

Finally, do note the prominence of the time and date stamp. Every time there’s a change, we’ll update our list. Our primary vehicle for gathering that intelligence will be Twitter, where most Minnesota political news seems to be breaking. However, we always welcome updates by the new (compared to Twitter) snail mail: email. Please send all updates and comments to staff@politicsinminnesota.com.

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