By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat Anderson, a former state commissioner, will formally launch her month-old campaign on Monday with a rally and tour of 14 stops across the state over four days. She announced she'd officially jump in just after state Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria, announced he'd jump out. Perhaps looking for his endorsement, she praised him on her Facebook page today.

From her campaign:

It starts with a press conference/rally in the Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul at 9:00 AM Monday, November 2 -- exactly 365 days before the 2010 election. Formally launching her gubernatorial campaign, former State Auditor Pat Anderson will introduce her campaign theme "365 Days, 365 Ways to a Better Minnesota."

During her week long kick-off tour, Anderson will expand beyond bullet points the concepts of structural tax reform, reforming the role of government in the lives of Minnesotans, reforming the health care system based on free market principles, reforming safety net programs to enable low-income individuals to participate as equals in that free market, and reforming the education system so that funding follows the student and local school principals and teachers have the authority and the resources to provide the best education to students they know best.

"These are serious times," said Anderson. "They require an experienced executive, knowledgeable about the workings of government and the private sector who will address the issues of the day with honest policies based on fundamental principles not political compromises, which ultimately please no one and accomplish nothing."

Anderson, 43, served as Minnesota's State Auditor from 2003-2007 where her insistence that local governments focus on "essential services" changed the way cities and counties managed their budgets. Appointed commissioner of the Department of Employee Relations by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2008, Anderson eliminated unnecessary positions and managed its merger with the Department of Finance and Administration, becoming, perhaps, the only state Commissioner to sign her own lay-off papers.

A successful businessperson, Anderson created and managed two communications and technology businesses until her election as Auditor. Anderson, a fourth generation Minnesotan, grew up in Forest Lake and lived, until recently, in Eagan. She and her husband, Doug Gallwas, currently live just north of St. Paul with their four teenage children.

Anderson's four-day, 14-stop tour includes stops in St. Paul, Rochester, Austin, and Mankato on Monday, Nov. 2; Duluth, St. Cloud, Alexandria (2 events) on Nov. 3; Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Fergus Falls, and St. Cloud (candidate forum) on Nov. 4; and Willmar, Marshall, Worthington, and Fairmont on Nov. 5.