Wetterling won’t join Hatch in race

01/31/2006

She rules out bid for lieutenant governor

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Children’s safety advocate Patty Wetterling has turned down Attorney General Mike Hatch’s offer to be his running mate on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ticket next fall.

But Wetterling is still considering running for Congress.

Hatch, a DFL candidate for governor, said Monday that Wetterling called him over the weekend and told him she would not run for lieutenant governor because she did not believe that would be the most effective way for her to promote the interests of children.

“I agreed that lieutenant governor is not the best office to pursue children’s issues,” Hatch said.

Wetterling was not available for comment Monday, but her campaign spokeswoman, Carol Butler, confirmed that the former U.S. Senate candidate had told Hatch she would not be his running mate.

“She is considering Congress,” Butler said, and Wetterling will make an announcement about her political future soon.

After Wetterling withdrew from the U.S. Senate race on Jan. 20, DFL activists suggested that she could run for secretary of state. But Butler said that is not an option.

“She was never seriously considering running for secretary of state,” Butler said. “That was just one of those wacky rumors that somebody floated.”

That leaves the 6th District congressional seat as an option. She ran for the seat in 2004 and lost to U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate this year. The 6th District runs from Afton and Stillwater through the northern suburbs to the St. Cloud area.

Elwyn Tinklenberg, former mayor of Blaine and former state transportation commissioner, is the only announced DFL candidate in the 6th District race. He has said Wetterling has assured him several times that she would not run for the seat again this year.