By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

Former state Rep. Allen Quist, who has been a stalwart in the conservative wing of the Minnesota Republican party, appears to be gearing up to run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in southern Minnesota.

Quist has a Web page, a Facebook page (h/t/ @tomscheck) and a YouTube mission statement on health care. He has not yet filed a fundraising committee with the Federal Election Commission.

Quist twice ran for governor in the 1990s. He was defeated in a primary by former GOP Gov. Arne Carlson in 1994 and for years later withdrew from campaigning in favor of the GOP's Norm Coleman. (Coleman lost that race, won one term as U.S. Senator and has said he'd consider running for governor in 2010.)

Quist, who, along with his wife Julie, was active in rallying opposition to the old Profiles of Learning education standards, says on his Web site:

Quist is currently editing and writing curriculum modules, available at CMods.org, that can be used free of charge by teachers and anyone else to correct and/or supplement a variety of school textbooks. Most of these curriculum modules are based on exciting new information that will not be included in textbooks because the information contradicts politically correct worldviews including Darwinism and global warming.

The Quists and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, have worked closely together and Julie Quist has been Bachmann's district director.

Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, a Republican, has also said she may look at running against Walz.