![Gov.-elect Tim Walz studied the budget forecast in his transition office just before heading down to speak to the media ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, December 6, 2018 Gov.-elect Tim Walz's vision for Minnesota would expand access to public health care, invest in education and improve roads and transit. Thursday's economic forecast will give him a sense of how much of that he might be able to achieve during his initial years in office and what financial challenges l](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5CATKE2C2LF6A7245QVPUEVDNU.jpg?&w=1080)
We're in the middle of a rapid change in the state's politics, especially as Gov. Mark Dayton passes the baton to Gov.-elect Tim Walz.
It's quite possible what we're seeing right now is the unfolding of the next decade, given a new governor who seems intent on charting his own course.
The first and most important question? Who is in the room?
Meaning, who is in the room when Walz is making the big decisions about policy, politics and people.
To some extent Walz is unknown to the Twin Cities political class. He's a southern Minnesota congressman who mostly stayed out of Twin Cities press. He was never a state legislator, and he has his own people who were not closely linked to the vast political universes of Dayton and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
There are advantages to this. He's successfully created his own political brand. (Grab your red and black buffalo plaid flannel and say it: "One Minnesota.")
But we've digressed. Who is the in-crowd? I asked DFL sources who might know.
The first is easy. Gwen Walz is a true partner. Like her husband, she was a teacher but also an assessment coordinator with the Mankato School District, so she has strong views on education policy. But she has other interests — like the Bard Prison Initiative. In Washington, she led a congressional spouse orientation program, so it's possible we'll see her active in Walz's legislative outreach. Indeed, as Tim Walz told me once, it's usually harder to dislike people when you've met their family.
