Minnesota Sen. Julie Rosen said on Tuesday that she's still considering whether to make a run for governor.
"I'm getting real close," said Rosen, R-Fairmont. "It's not too late."
There was little buzz about Rosen when Republicans gathered over the weekend for a non-binding straw poll in the governor's race. Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson won that preference poll and former Rep. Marty Seifert came in a surprising third place as a write-in candidate. Seifert, of Marshall, is not yet running but may jump into the race soon.
Rosen said on Tuesday that she has spent much of the last month traveling outside of Minnesota. Her trips included a visit to Istanbul and one to Las Vegas, where one of her rodeo bulls (yes, she has a stake in rodeo bulls) performed well in a national competition.
"I have been out of the loop a lot," she said. But she added that she has not taken a campaign off the burner and if a candidate has the basics in place, there is still time to jump in. She said she had many -- but not all -- of the basics in place.
If she ran, Rosen would be the first woman to enter the Republican 2014 contest to take down DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. According to the University of Minnesota's Smart Politics blog, Minnesota is one of just 10 states that has never had a female nominee for governor from one of the major parties. (In 2010, the DFL endorsed House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher but she lost to Dayton in a primary.)
Rosen is best known for her sponsorship of the Vikings stadium legislation, which had bipartisan support when it passed in 2012. The Vikings deal has been considerably tarnished since its passage and begot jeers from Republican activists on Saturday's gathering.
Like Seifert, Rosen is from greater Minnesota. Currently, school teacher Robert Farnsworth, of Hibbing, is the only Republican candidate for governor to hail from outside the metro and suburban areas.
