Posted: 11/8/06
Otto, Ritchie win constitutional offices
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
While saving the Governorís Office, Republicans lost two state constitutional offices on Election Day.
Former DFL state representative Rebecca Otto, 43, of Marine on St. Croix, bested incumbent state auditor Pat Anderson by winning about 52 percent of the vote.
Independence Party candidate Lucy Gerold shared the loss with Anderson.
ìItís just starting to sink in,î said Otto, speaking at the DFL election night gathering in St. Paul.
A number of factors contributed to her win ó she canít pick just one, said Otto.
She thinks her campaign spending $150,000 on television advertising was effective. Additionally, her campaign website had 10,000 hits over the last three days of the campaign.
ìYoung people got engaged,î said Otto.
Republican Anderson, former Eagan mayor, campaigned with a inflatable, RV-sized bulldog named Gus ó a symbol of watchfulness.
Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, of Big Lake, also lost her office after serving two terms ó a cardinal red attire was Kiffmeyerís trademark.
DFLer Mark Ritchie, 54, a former state official and voter activist, won about 53 percent of the vote to defeat Kiffmeyer and Independence Party candidate Joel Spoonheim.
Ideas like liberty arenít just words, said Ritchie.
ìWe mean it,î he told gathered Democrats at the Riverfront in downtown St. Paul.
In the attorney generalís race, Solicitor General Lori Swanson, 39, defeated Rep. Jeff Johnson, R-Plymouth and Independence Party candidate John James to fill the office vacated by Mike Hatch.
ìIíve got some pretty big shoes to fill,î said Swanson to gathered DFLers.
Swanson, of Eagan, entered the race late summer after the endorsed candidate, Rep. Matt Entenza, became ensnared in a flap over digging for dirt on Hatch.
Swanson has never before filled elective office.
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