MANKATO — Eleven years ago, Allen Quist was in a meeting room at the St. Peter Community Center speaking to a group of southern Minnesotans about an issue that worried him — something called the Profile of Learning that he knew a lot about and most other Minnesotans had never heard of.

The issue was going to be a big one, Quist told a reporter at the meeting. And the rural St. Peter farmer rode that and other issues to a second place finish in the race for the Republican endorsement for governor in 1998.

“I was the first one that publicly stated opposition,” Quist said of the Profile of Learning, essentially mandatory lesson plans written for Minnesota schools by the state Department of Education.

In the 11 years that followed, the community center was destroyed by a tornado, the Profile of Learning was repealed by the Legislature, and Quist basically stuck to the vow he made when he lost to Norm Coleman in the 1998 endorsing convention — to quit running for office, do more fishing and focus on his farm.

“I haven’t done anything politically in 10 years,” said Quist, now 65 years old and retired as a professor at Bethany Lutheran College.

On Tuesday, he was in a meeting room in Mankato speaking to a group of southern Minnesotans about an issue that worried him — health care reform legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Last week, he was in Washington, D.C., to attend the rally organized by Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann to oppose the Democratic reform bill.

“The thing that changed is I really am concerned about the direction the country has taken,” he said.

So this time, it’s going to be a run for Congress — not for the state House like in the mid-1980s or governor like in 1998 or 1994, when he won the Republican endorsement over incumbent Gov. Arne Carlson before losing to Carlson in the primary election.

It’s not officially official yet, although Quist said he needs to decide “real soon” and that “I’m strongly inclined to be a candidate.”

Three bills passed by the House and supported by Congressman Tim Walz, a Mankato Democrat in his second term, will be at the heart of Quist’s campaign: health care reform, the energy/climate bill and the $787 billion economic stimulus bill.

Quist also admits to a bit of restlessness: “I was looking for a new challenge.”

He jokes about being a married father of 10 who comes home to an empty farm house. Wife Julie Quist is district director for Bachmann and works long days, commuting to Bachmann’s district office in Woodbury.

His kids are all grown and his oldest son, Andrew, was more than willing to take over the entire farm after already tending to most of it.

“His eyes lit up like the sun coming up on a summer morning,” Quist said of Andrew’s reaction to the offer.

Quist said his wife’s work with Bachmann has provided a personal connection to the battle going on in the nation’s capital. He likes the idea of providing some reinforcements for Bachmann, the increasingly prominent conservative who has called for an “orderly revolution” against President Obama and the Democratic Congress.

“Yes, sure, that would be a part of it,” Quist said. “But I’m a very independent kind of person.”

Despite his previous runs for state government offices, the American government instructor at Bethany said he’s always been more interested in federal issues.

And there is something that philosophically connects that meeting from 1998 to the one from Tuesday.

The Profile of Learning had “Department of Education bureaucrats” rather than teachers deciding lesson plans, and the Democratic health reform would have government officials rather than patients making medical decisions, according to Quist’s interpretation.

“What ties them together is — whether it’s lesson plans or medical care — the notion that government is in a better position to decide than the individual,” he said.

Richard Carlbom, Walz’s campaign manager, said opponents’ attempts to distort the provisions of the health care bill don’t change the fact that voters want the system to be improved — and the House reform measure makes progress in that direction. Carlbom also said Walz is being recognized for making positive changes to the way Minnesota hospitals and doctors are being reimbursed under Medicare.

“No matter what the right wing tries to scream at the top of their lungs, the bottom line is the people of southern Minnesota elected Tim Walz to help pass meaningful health care reform,” Carlbom said.