Mike Hatch - 2006 Gubernatorial Campaign

2006 Gubernatorial Campaign

A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Hatch received the party endorsement in June at the DFL state convention in Rochester, Minnesota. The endorsement was not binding. In the battle for the endorsement, Hatch defeated state senators Steve Kelley and Becky Lourey. Kelley conceded, but Lourey indicated she would still run in the September primary. Hatch selected former state auditor Judi Dutcher (who had left the Republican party in 2000) as his lieutenant governor candidate, and went on to win the September primary.

On November 7, 2006, Hatch narrowly lost the general election in a four-way race between himself, Pawlenty, the Independence Party candidate, Peter Hutchinson, and the Green Party candidate, Ken Pentel.

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 has also ran ads accusing Hatch of being responsible for raising health care costs, a claim Hatch refuted. 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 by most socioeconomic indicators.

One of the biggest flaps in the campaign came when Hatch allegedly called a reporter a "Republican whore" for questioning him about Dutcher's inability to identify E85, which is an important component of Minnesota's economy. Hatch disputed the allegation, claiming he had said "Republican hack."

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. 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.

Dan Hofrenning, a political scientist from St. Olaf College in Northfield, said it was noteworthy that Hatch turned in the best election performance by a DFL gubernatorial candidate in decades. According to Hofrenning, in the three previous gubernatorial elections, the DFL candidate never broke 40% in the polls.

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, saying that would have been one of the first goals of his administration.

Hatch had announced plans to return to private law practice after his term ended in January 2007. He ruled out a future race for governor, yet kept open the possibility of public service in the future.