Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2006

Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2006
Minnesota
November 7, 2006
 
Nominee Tim Pawlenty Mike Hatch Peter Hutchinson
Party Republican DFL Independence
Running mate Carol Molnau Judi Dutcher Maureen Reed
Popular vote 1,028,568 1,007,460 141,735
Percentage 46.7% 45.7% 6.4%

County Results
Governor before election

Tim Pawlenty
Republican

 Elected Governor

Tim Pawlenty
Republican

The 2006 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Tim Pawlenty was endorsed by the state Republican convention on June 2, 2006, while the state Democratic–Farmer–Labor convention endorsed Mike Hatch on June 10, 2006. The statewide party primaries took place on September 12, 2006, with Hatch defeating DFL challengers Becky Lourey and Ole Savior and incumbent Pawlenty defeating Sue Jeffers. In the November 7 general election Pawlenty received a plurality of the votes, defeating Hatch by a margin of one percent.

It is widely believed that Hatch's lead in the polls quickly evaporated just days before the election after his running mate's response to a question about ethanol posed by a KSAX-TV reporter.

Candidates

General Election

Former Candidates

Election Campaign

Pawlenty refused state subsidies and was thus not subject to spending limits associated with those subsidies. His campaign set a new spending record for a gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota.

E-85 Incident

One big issue that was seen to hurt the DFL nominees was Lieutenant Governor candidate Judi Dutcher's gaffe of not being able to identify E-85. When asked about the impact of the gasoline alternative on the economies of rural Minnesota by then KSAX-TV anchor Corey Poppe, Dutcher was unable to comment, asking Poppe to define E-85. In the subsequent questioning about her response, gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch reportedly called a Forum Communications reporter "a Republican whore" and promptly hung up the phone.. Hatch claimed he had said "hack", not "whore", but the incident, occurring only three days before the last poll listed here, is believed to have swung the race. It put Hatch on the defensive in the last week of the campaign.

Polling

Source Date Hatch (DFL) Pawlenty (R) Hutchinson (IP) Undecided
Star Tribune Minnesota Poll November 4, 2006 45% 40% 7% 7%
University of Minnesota October 28, 2006 45% 39% 7%
Mason-Dixon October 27, 2006 44% 43% 7%
St. Cloud State University October 27, 2006 46% 36% 7%
Rasmussen October 25, 2006 45% 44% 2%
Zogby/WSJ October 19, 2006 45% 45%
Star Tribune Minnesota Poll October 14, 2006 46% 37% 7% 6%
Rasmussen October 4, 2006 50% 46% 2%
Survey USA September 28, 2006 44% 45% 6% 3%
Pioneer Press/MPR Poll September 22, 2006 39% 42% 5% 11%
The Humphrey Institute September 21, 2006 44% 42% 6% 5%
Star Tribune Minnesota Poll September 16, 2006 42% 42% 7% 5%
Zogby/WSJ September 11, 2006 42% 41%
Gallup September 5, 2006 44% 43%
Rasmussen September 1, 2006 39% 45% 7%
Zogby/WSJ August 28, 2006 43% 41% 5-9%
Rasmussen August 7, 2006 36% 46% 6%
Survey USA July 24, 2006 36% 50% 8%
Zogby/WSJ July 24, 2006 43% 43%
Star Tribune Minnesota Poll July 15, 2006 41% 43%
Rasmussen June 30, 2006 47% 42%
Zogby/WSJ June 21, 2006 40% 45%
Rasmussen May 10, 2006 49% 39%
Rasmussen February 28, 2006 45% 40%
Rasmussen January 29, 2006 44% 47%

Election results

On November 7, 2006, Tim Pawlenty narrowly won the general election, 46.7% to 45.7%, in a four-way race between himself, DFL candidate Mike Hatch, the Independence Party candidate, Peter Hutchinson, and the Green Party candidate, Ken Pentel. After Pawlenty opted out of spending limits, Hatch followed suit. Pawlenty outspent Hatch by $1 million. In addition, the race was affected by negative advertising by 527 groups attacking the opposition, as well as issue-oriented groups opposing liberal causes in the state.

Pawlenty made illegal immigration an issue, running ads accusing Hatch of trying to give college tuition to illegal immigrants. Hatch responded with an ad saying that illegal immigration laws had not been enforced under Pawlenty's tenure. Pawlenty also ran ads accusing Hatch of being responsible for raising health care costs, a claim that Hatch disputed. Pawlenty campaigned on a record of leading the state through hard times, balancing record budget deficits without raising major state tax rates, and without diminishing the state's "nation-leading" status on most socio-economic indicators.

Pawlenty won by piling up big margins in suburban counties as well as in central and southern Minnesota regions anchored by St. Cloud and Rochester, Minnesota. In his victory speech, noting the fact that he would have to deal with both a DFL House and Senate, Pawlenty said that it was "a time tonight to be humble and time to be grateful." He promised that "the next four years are going to be different than the last four years" and that he would build "a common agenda" with DFLers who swept legislative and constitutional offices.

Hatch ran ahead in Minneapolis, St. Paul and their inner-ring suburbs. He had big margins in the DFL strongholds around Duluth and the Iron Range.

In his concession speech, Hatch advocated that legislators get back to "sitting down and getting to know each other in private" in order to establish common ground for bipartisan legislation, and called for an end to partisan rancor. Had the Hatch/Dutcher ticket been successful, he stated that it would have been one of the first goals of his administration.

2006 gubernatorial election, Minnesota
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Tim Pawlenty 1,028,568 46.7% +2.3%
DFL Mike Hatch 1,007,460 45.7% +9.2%
Independence Peter Hutchinson 141,735 6.4% -9.8%
Green Ken Pentel 10,850 0.5% -1.8%
Independent Walt E. Brown 9,649 0.4% n/a
Independent Leslie Davis 3,776 0.2% n/a
Write-ins 949 0.0%
Majority 21,108 1.0%
Turnout 2,202,987 70.2%
Republican hold Swing

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_031105113.html
  2. ↑ Scanned copy of Prosecutor's Motion to Dismiss
  3. ↑ Sharkey v. Indiana, Ind. App. (2006)

External links

Campaign Websites

Other

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