Tom Horner tops IP gubernatorial field

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

Last update: March 2, 2010 - 8:34 AM

Tom Horner, a longtime Republican operative and broadcast talking head, has emerged as the choice among Independence Party activists as their gubernatorial candidate.

The party, which held an online caucus throughout February, instead of neighborhood gatherings on a single night, announced that Horner had gotten 50 percent of the vote of participants.

Rob Hahn, a magazine publisher, got about 16 percent of the vote and John Uldrich got about 4 percent.

Horner was a longtime staffer of former Sen. Dave Durenberger and has been a TV and radio pundit representing the GOP for years. He is the co-founder of the Himle-Horner public relations firm.

He has said his candidacy represents a run by "somebody in the middle," as opposed to the extremes represented by the DFL and the GOP.

The Independence Party is Minnesota's third major party, having attracted enough votes in statewide races to qualify for state campaign finance funding.

Its only win in a statewide race came in 1998, when Jesse Ventura won the governor's office.

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