MANKATO — Some of the most popular people in Minnesota right now are the thousands of southern Minnesota Republicans who agreed at last week’s precinct caucuses to attend their party’s county convention.

Those conventions will be held during a three-week window starting Saturday, and Republican candidates know that the meetings may determine who is going to be the GOP candidate for governor and the party’s challenger to Democratic Congressman Tim Walz.

Allen Quist, the retired St. Peter farmer who hopes to take on Walz, said he’s going to be on the phone and on the road as much as possible in the days ahead — talking to delegates to the county conventions, looking to persuade them to throw their support behind his candidacy.

Other Republican candidates, including state Rep. Randy Demmer of Hayfield and Blue Earth resident Jim Hagedorn, are also attempting to win over the delegates — as are the party’s candidates for governor.

Democratic delegates are hearing from the large batch of DFL candidates for governor, but that party has major contenders who have already said they will ignore the endorsement and run in a primary election later this summer. And with Walz seeking reelection, Democrats already have their candidate in the 1st District.

The top Republicans — both for governor and in the 1st District race — have pledged to drop from the race if another opponent is endorsed by the delegates.

Republicans will make their choice in the congressional race at a 1st District convention in Mankato on April 17.

Endorsement

crunch time

Quist was hustling to reach out to party activists on the night of the caucuses. He started in Rochester, speaking to caucus-goers at 6:30 p.m., and finished in Mankato, trying to catch the attendees here before they wrapped up their precinct meetings.

“I’m not a fast driver,” Quist said, laughing, when asked how he managed to hit caucuses in the district’s two biggest cities — 83 miles apart — in such a tight time frame. “The roads were good. The roads were very good.”

Quist will be looking for dry pavement on Highway 169 on March 3 when both the Blue Earth County Republican convention and the Nicollet County Republican convention are held, both starting at 9 a.m.

“The worst day is going to be the 27th of February,” Quist said of the nine county conventions that day, most starting at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m.

Quist said his wife Julie will be hitting some conventions on his behalf, and other supporters will be helping. Much of the work needs to be done in advance, courting county convention delegates on a personal basis.

“I like to talk to people one-on-one,” he said.

The job is to inspire them to get themselves elected to the district convention — or to back other Quist supporters seeking to get a district delegate spot.

DFLers convene in St. Peter Saturday

Democrats in Nicollet County aren’t dallying when it comes to making their choice about who to send as delegates to the state convention in Duluth on the final weekend in April. The Nicollet County DFL convention is Saturday at St. Peter High School.

Blue Earth County Democrats will meet two weeks later, on Feb. 27 at Mankato East High School.

The governor’s race will be pretty much the sole focus of delegates there. Nearly a dozen gubernatorial candidates are vying for the DFL endorsement, but the party has incumbents seeking reelection for most other races.

IP candidate

in the 1st

The Independence Party candidate against Walz — Steve Wilson of Rochester — is continuing his announcement tour this week. A Houston County native and former Lake City resident, Wilson worked for Land O’ Lakes for 15 years and worked in business development, including in Iraq and in former Soviet bloc countries.

He’s a former Republican who ran for the state Senate in southeastern Minnesota in 2006.

Wilson supports making the nation’s health care system more cost-efficient before attempting to expand coverage to all uninsured Americans. He lists the growing national debt as the biggest danger facing the nation.

Saying special interests have control over the two major parties, Wilson calls for every state to elect at least one fiscally conservative third-party candidate to Congress.