The breaking news comes via Tom Scheck over at Polinaut:
Republican Pat Anderson’s campaign announced that she’ll hold a news conference at 10AM tomorrow to make a major announcement. She declined to discuss the specifics in advance but two people with knowledge of her plans say she will drop her campaign for governor and will run for State Auditor. Anderson held that office between 2003 and 2007 but lost her reelection bid to Democrat Rebecca Otto.
More at Polinaut.
Anderson was long considered one of the front-runners in the GOP endorsement race, but she has seemed to be losing momentum over the past few months as Seifert and Emmer battled for the headlines. To be honest, I haven’t been following the GOP side of the endorsement race all that closely, but here’s my 2¢: With Seifert seemingly running away with the endorsement, Anderson dropping out may actually benefit Tom Emmer by making it a more focused mano-a-mano battle.
As for the Auditor race, Otto’s already defeated Anderson once; so, there’s that. But Anderson’s name (and it’s really more her name than name recognition given the low-profile of the office) may make this a more heated battle than Otto would have faced otherwise. Still, Otto’s done a terrific job her first term by all accounts and knows how to run a hell of a campaign—I’m not too worried.
Pat Anderson-Awada-Whatever ran the auditors office during her tenure like her own little ultra-conservative think tank, highly politicized with little to show. No thanks.
Rebecca Otto has been highly regarded and exceptionally competent during her term.
This one is a no brainer.
“Pat Anderson-Awada-Whatever ran the auditors office during her tenure like her own little ultra-conservative think tank, highly politicized with little to show”
100% correct. People who use public office to further the fortunes of their party to the extent that Anderson did should no longer hold any public office.
Ok, so those who might know: does this mean that Coleman is going to run, if she is getting out now?
I don’t think it will enter into his calculus. On the one hand, a tighter field does make it more difficult for Norm to sweep in and play the benevolent savior card, but I think he’s looking at a primary no matter what at this point. So, whatever his decision is, I don’t think this impacts it.
It’s seems like the converse is true, however- Anderson’s perception that Coleman will enter the race was instrumental in her dropping out of it, per Doug Grow-
http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2010/01/12/14871/gops_pat_anderson_leaving_governors_race_to_seek_her_old_job_as_state_auditor
I was thinking that she might have been hearing some intel that Coleman is coming into the race, and that would swamp her chances.
I do like Rebecca Otto in that she’s the only statewide DFL constitutional officeholder who hasn’t had an ethics compalint filed against her.
Shoot, for a minutes I thought it was Anderson Kelliher dropping out. I guess we will have MAK to smack down for a while longer in the race.
As an employee of a small city (pop. < 3K) the difference between Auditor Anderson and Auditor Otto has been amazing. Anderson used every chance she could to embarrass local official when they made what were nearly always honest mistakes. You had city clerks afraid to call the auditor's office to ask questions for fear they would be put under a microscope. With Auditor Otto, the staff works with local governments to ensure they are conducting themselves in accordance with state statutes. They try to stop problems before they arise, not wait in ambush in order to issue a press release later.