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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

The first GOP candidate to file for Governor

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Gov. Pawlenty may face a little competition if he decides to run for a third term. Phillip Herwig, of Milaca, filed paperwork with the Campaign Finance Board earlier this week.

I'm trying to determine who Herwig is but it appears, however, that he challenged DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar in 1992 and 1994 and got trounced. There are no links (the interweb wasn't as accessible back then) but I found some background on the race. The Star Tribune have a few interesting nuggets about Herwig from a 1994 story:

"But Herwig is back, too, this time with some name recognition and more savvy. He is also a straight-talking outsider in a year when incumbency can be a curse.

"In 1992, I was totally green. I had participated in politics but never been a candidate," he said.

What he lacks is money to run a high-level campaign. As of June 30, the latest period for which records are available, he had raised about $ 13,000, compared with $ 135,000 raised by Oberstar."

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"Herwig, 52, a part-time farmer, was laid off last winter from his machinist job at Smith System Manufacturing Co. in Princeton. A native of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, he earned a master's degree in social science and demography and was an instructor for a branch of Penn State University until he decided he would rather grow corn and soybeans.

For the past 21 years, he has lived on a farm near Milaca with his wife, Dorothy. The couple has three sons; Peter, David and Brian.

He has served on such organizations as the Minnesota Commission on Violent Crimes and the state Rural Development Board, but he never has held elected office.

The family joke is, "We're so grass-roots that we're looking up at the roots."

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has not said whether he'll run for reelection. Herwig will definitely see additional challengers if Pawlenty decides not to run.

You can check here to see the other filings.