ST. PAUL (AP) - Democratic Attorney General Mike Hatch conceded to Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday, after unofficial election results showed a widening margin in the race for governor.
With nearly 2.2 million votes counted, Pawlenty's lead over Hatch grew to more than 25,000 votes by Wednesday morning, according to numbers on the Secretary of State's Web site.
Hatch addressed reporters Wednesday, saying the Republican governor and the newly-elected Democratic majority in the House and Senate would have to work together.
Democrats now boast an 85-49 edge in the House and a 44-23 lead in the Senate.
A survivor in an otherwise dreadful Republican year, Pawlenty will be in a far weaker position when he begins term two in 2007.
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"This is a time tonight to be humble. It's a time to be grateful. It's time for us as a state and a nation to come together," Pawlenty said after accepting a narrow win over Hatch and Independence Party candidate Peter Hutchinson.
By beating Hatch, Pawlenty handed state Democrats their fifth consecutive loss in a gubernatorial election.
A survivor in an otherwise dreadful Republican year, Pawlenty's far weaker position when he begins term two in 2007 explained his conciliatory tone when he addressed supporters early Wednesday morning.
``This is a time tonight to be humble. It's a time to be grateful. It's time for us as a state and a nation to come together,' Pawlenty said after accepting a narrow win over Democratic Attorney General Mike Hatch and the Independence Party's Peter Hutchinson.
He'll have to reach out to Democrats, now that they boast an 85-49 edge in the House and a 44-23 lead in the Senate.
By beating Hatch, Pawlenty handed state Democrats their fifth consecutive loss in a gubernatorial election.
Hatch stumbled over the finish line after losing his cool with reporters covering a gaffe made by his running mate. Hutchinson drew more than the margin of difference, likely siphoning much of that support from Hatch.
``We're going to take this victory,' Pawlenty said. ``We're going to raise the bar on ourselves and we're going to take every ounce of energy and skill and gift and opportunity that we've been given to make this state an even better place for our citizens.'
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With nearly 2.2 million votes counted, Pawlenty led Hatch by 15,000 votes. If his lead slipped more in late-arriving returns, it could trigger a recount.
``There's a few more votes to go and every vote counts,' Hatch told supporters just before 1:30 a.m., before the race was called.
Hatch's spokeswoman didn't return calls after Pawlenty was declared the winner; the attorney general scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference.
Pawlenty governed as a social and fiscal conservative for much of his term.
``He's always been very good at explaining that agenda and giving it a moderate patina,' said political scholar Steven Smith.
He struck a more moderate message on the campaign trail.
In a second term, Pawlenty told voters he would work to put more money into public schools and try to expand a state-subsidized health insurance program. Issues like abortion, gay marriage and guns seldom came up in his re-election bid.
Hatch made a promise to reduce college tuition the central theme of his campaign. He also hit Pawlenty hard on fast-rising property taxes, tracing them to state cuts in local aid on the governor's watch.
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The one-two punch helped Hatch stake out a late-October lead. But a couple of high-profile missteps by the Hatch team -- his running mate flubbed a question on a key agricultural issue, then he berated reporters following the story -- plus a flurry of attack ads by Pawlenty supporters swung momentum back to the governor.
Hatch shrugged off Republicans' charge that he had shown himself unfit for the office.
``It's not temper, it's passion,' Hatch said. ``I have passion and I care about issues.'
Financial planner Mary Ann Maloney backed Hatch.
``I think we've dodged bullets on taxes during Pawlenty's term,' said Maloney, a 56-year-old financial planner from Lino Lakes. ``As a result we're facing some erosion of public education and we're not addressing issues of employment and minimum wage.'
Pawlenty counted on voters rewarding him for eliminating a giant budget deficit without raising state taxes, although his rivals reminded people that several fees were hiked and a new surcharge was levied on tobacco.
Property manager Randy Hagerty, 46, of Centerville, went with Pawlenty.
``I'm in favor of careful government spending, and I think he's done a fine job in his first term, so I want to see him re-elected,' Hagerty said.
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The high-energy, town-to-town campaign that Pawlenty waged in 2002 gave way in 2006 to a race dominated by TV commercials. Pawlenty chose to skip public campaign subsidies so he could raise and spend as much as possible, but all that fundraising kept him away from the retail politicking he excelled at four years earlier.
The Democrats used photos of Pawlenty with Bush during the campaign. It may have helped. Exit polling by The Associated Press found that nearly two-thirds of voters disapproved of Bush, and three-fourths of the critics went for Hatch.
According to exit polls, Pawlenty led sizably in the mid-sized cities with 10,000 to 50,000 residents and the suburbs while Hatch handily won Minneapolis and St. Paul. They were about even in rural areas.
In 2002, Pawlenty won the Twin Cities suburbs with 54 percent of the vote, while getting only 40 percent in the cities themselves.
Hutchinson didn't do as well as the Independence Party candidate of four years ago, but his 6 percent was a possible difference maker.
Exit polling suggested that Hutchinson's strongest support came from young voters in the Twin Cities, home to a sprawling University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis and several small liberal arts colleges in the St. Paul. It's also a base of DFL voters.
