ST. PAUL - Welcome to 2006, a year that promises to be very politically active.
It seems that the year started months ago. The 2006 campaigns began when U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy announced on Feb. 11 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat Mark Dayton is vacating. That set off a series of announcements, not only for Dayton's job, but also for governor.
By year's end, most candidates running for major office already had made formal announcements. The big exception was Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but he has left no doubt he is running again. The Independence Party's Peter Hutchinson also should announce he is in the governor's race soon.
Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and Auditor Pat Anderson are running again, but have not publicly launched campaigns. Both have challengers already.
A couple congressional races in the Twin Cities, especially for the seat Kennedy is leaving, are getting hot. U.S. Reps. Collin Peterson and James Oberstar, the two who serve huge areas of northern and western Minnesota, won't make a big deal out of a campaign. Sure, both will have Republican opponents in November, but the incumbents feel secure enough that they will try to show they are conducting business as usual instead of slipping into an obvious campaign mode.
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Congressional challengers and people running for lower statewide offices will have an especially hard time competing this year. Senate and governor candidates probably will make 2006 a record spending year. Challengers need to make a splash early because as the Nov. 7 election nears, they will be drowned out by the big spenders.
That is something Michael Barrett needs to learn. The pharmacy manager at Long Prairie Memorial Hospital kicked off his challenge to Peterson in November, receiving only patchy publicity because he did not contact political reporters who reach most voters in western Minnesota's 7th Congressional District.
Supporters of a proposed amendment that would dedicate more money to transit and transportation plan to spend $4 million on promoting it, but they admit work needs to begin far in advance of Nov. 7. Like candidates, they know most attention will be focused on the two big races in the last half of the year.
Other amendments could join the transportation funding proposal on the general election ballot. For instance, some legislators again will push to dedicate part of the sales tax to outdoor projects. This year a big division probably will be whether the money would come from the existing sales tax or if the tax would be increased to provide new funding.
Another proposed -- and controversial --constitutional amendment is one banning gay marriages. There is talk about many other constitutional amendments, but so far it is just talk.
The big job of this year's Legislature is to fund public works projects. That process actually may be rather quiet as incumbent legislators and Pawlenty realize the political advantage to pumping money into buildings that voters can see.
Otherwise, when the Legislature meets March 1, it doesn't have to do much. Politically, lawmakers want to look like they can get along after two years of intense bickering. But stadium funding plans and a dozen other topics could bring out the fight in them.
It looks like 2006 will be a banner political year. But invest in TiVo or head to the library and check out books if you don't enjoy campaign commercials taking up every available second of television air time.
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Don Davis is the capitol bureau chief for the West Central Tribune.
