By Mark Fischenich

Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Joe Kunkel was a late-comer to the group that thought Tim Walz had a strong chance to beat Gil Gutknecht.

A political science professor at Minnesota State University, Kunkel said the professor in him maintained that the congressional election system is broken, that incumbents are virtually unbeatable, that an average person can’t win a federal race in today’s political reality.

“It was only a third-tier race, I thought,” Kunkel said. “... About two weeks ago, I became a believer.”

Former Congressman Tim Penny, who represented the 1st District for 12 years before retiring in 1994, was skeptical only until he met Walz. Penny, who talks politics with an informal group of friends on Saturday mornings at a Waseca cafe, said Walz stopped by one of the gatherings early in the campaign.

“Lots of people think they can run for Congress, and lots people don’t know what they’re getting into,” Penny said. “Walz didn’t know what he was getting into. ... But I remember thinking from the start, this guy could be a strong candidate and he could certainly do the job if elected.”

Judi Gauch, a 65-year-old DFL Party activist from North Mankato, has been working on campaigns since passing out literature for John Kennedy in 1960. She’s watched a lot of campaigns and been to a lot of “victory” parties.

“This has got to be No. 1 for me,” said Gauch, whose bad knees and bad feet usually send her home by around 11 p.m., even on good election nights for Democrats. “But I found some Ibuprofen in my purse and kept going (until 1 a.m.).”

So did hundreds of other giddy DFLers. It was the polar opposite of what local Democrats were used to in recent congressional races. For six straight elections, Gutknecht had beaten their candidates — usually soundly.

“I think Democrats were a bit dispirited,” said Penny, a Democrat while in Congress but now a member of the Independence Party.

Walz managed to change that, to bring optimism and enthusiasm, according to local political observers. That was probably the key to his success in doing the near impossible — beating a long-term incumbent congressman who wasn’t directly involved in any scandal.

“He got people of all ages fired up,” Penny said.

But his ability to energize young volunteers, including many he’d taught or coached at West High School, was obvious.

“If you’re a teacher who actually inspires your kids, God love you,” Penny said. “That’s powerful — even more-so if it reaches younger voters because we’ve got to get the next generation to believe in this system.”

Walz, who had never run for elected office of any kind before this race, brought an authenticity that connected with voters, according to state Sen. John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter. He never had the feel of a carefully crafted, overly managed, tightly scripted politician.

“He’s your good neighbor from next door,” Hottinger said. “Nobody made Tim Walz except Tim Walz.”

Gutknecht’s campaign manager, Nels Pierson, said Walz and his campaign staff ran hard and executed their campaign plan successfully. But Pierson said the election wasn’t so much a vote for Walz as it was a vote against President Bush, the Iraq war and the struggles of the GOP-led Congress.

“I don’t think the better man won the race,” Pierson said. “The election was about George Bush and the national party.”

Pierson, who also pointed to the influx of outside campaign ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and labor unions, said he isn’t sure there was much Gutknecht could have done to change the result.

Penny, who knocked off an incumbent congressman in 1982, thinks Gutknecht and his campaign didn’t take the Walz threat seriously. At least not soon enough.

“They just didn’t see it coming,” Penny said. “They didn’t realize they had a serious race on their hands until September, and by then Walz had a lot of momentum.”

On Wednesday night Walz, who had slept two hours in the previous two days, was still thanking volunteers and staff at a reception at the DFL headquarters in Mankato. When asked his opinion about the key to victory, he spoke of the nearly two years of hard work, of researching the issues, of learning the skills of campaigning, of hiring good staff and of steadily building grassroots support across southern Minnesota.

Mainly, though, he talked about the volunteers who made the campaign theirs.

“I’ve never heard ‘You won,’” Walz said. “It was ‘We won.’”