by Tony Petrangelo

Jun 29, 2013, 9:00 AM

The Weekly Wrap 6-29

♣ In news neither shocking or new at this point, Kurt Zellers last Sunday announced that he will in fact be running for Governor of Minnesota.

This brings the total number of white male Republican candidates for Governor to three.

♣ Also not shocking but a little bit more new: Senator Dave Thompson also announced he is running for Governor.

This brings the total number of white male Republican candidates for Governor to four.

♣ This description of of another candidates possible entry into the race may be a bit overstated:

One potential 800-pound gorilla in the Republican field for Minnesota governor hasn’t even officially thrown her hat in the ring yet.

That would be state Sen. Julie Rosen, the four-term lawmaker from Fairmont who was the face of 2012’s successful legislative push for a new Vikings stadium.

I certainly wouldn’t describe Rosen as an 800 lb gorilla, even if she may be a formidable candidate. According to the worlds most trusted source of information, Wikipedia, the 800 lb gorilla phrase comes from the following riddle:

“Where does an 800 lb. gorilla sit?”

The answer:

“Anywhere it wants to.”

Even though I’m picking nits here, I’m not trying to be nit-picky. The Wrap links to many Briana Bierschbach stories and they’re always excellent. But this description of Rosen as an 800 lb gorilla, well, I don’t see it.

Her claim to fame at this point is the Vikings stadium. How does this help her against Mark Dayton, who was probably more instrumental in getting that stadium passed then any other single politician?

And Julie Rosen is super rich and can self-fund. Again, who does that remind you of?

Anyway, beyond whether Julie Rosen is or is not a large primate, the other part of the story, the part where she is likely to run for Governor, is what’s relevant to the Wrap.

At the end of that piece is yet another Republican talking about Republicans not being so beholden to the party endorsement this cycle:

GOP operative Gregg Peppin, who is volunteering for Johnson’s campaign, said candidates who promise to abide by the endorsement will automatically get a leg up in the process because some activists will refuse to vote for any candidate that may not honor the party’s wishes. But Peppin acknowledges that the share of activists who feel that way may be shrinking after the party’s last two endorsed statewide candidates – Emmer in 2010 and Kurt Bills for U.S. Senate in 2012 – dramatically underperformed Republicans’ expectations.

“This is the first time where we’ve really seen candidates that are much more open to pursuing that dual track,” Peppin said. “I sense there’s an increasing number of people who aren’t willing to dismiss a candidate just because they say, ‘I’m going to go to the primary.’”

♣ Also announcing a run for office, this one being Minnesota’s eighth congressional district, is one Stewart Mills.

And shortly thereafter a possibly damaging piece of info came out about the newly minted candidate:

Alas, photos supplied to City Pages by a Democratic source out Republican 8th District congressional hopeful Stewart Mills as a Packer backer.

Nonetheless, Mills entrance into the race caused Stu Rothenberg to change his rating of Minnesota’s eighth district from “Safe Democrat” to “Lean Democrat.”