The three major-party candidates for governor stuck to familiar scripts and stayed clear of creating new controversies Sunday in a final debate that gave them one more opportunity to capture undecided voters.
It was a mostly tame affair, with the candidates seeming more determined to drive home their major themes than attack each other.
DFLer Mark Dayton touted his plan to create a new tax bracket for the top 4 percent of income earners to bring in revenue to reduce the state budget deficit.
"I do believe that people making a million ... should pay a higher income tax rate than people making $75,000 a year," Dayton said.
Republican contender Tom Emmer repeated his plans to balance the budget by cutting spending and business taxes, telling Dayton that reducing taxes on businesses would help "those people you seem to want to drive out of the state."
Independence Party candidate Tom Horner pressed his case that he represents a break from the partisan politics of Republicans and Democrats. "We need a new type of discussion," he said.
The debate at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio, was the 26th for the three, and they reflected on that high frequency at the end of the session. Dayton called the series "a great antidote" for television commercials. Horner, who has struggled to raise campaign contributions, said the debates gave him a chance to compete against two better-funded candidates. Emmer said the sessions broadened his exposure from being a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The last debate allowed questions from some of the 200 people in the audience. One man asked how the prospective governors would avoid partisan politics when legislative and congressional districts are redrawn next year. Horner and Dayton said they favor leaving redistricting decisions to an independent commission or judicial panel.
