Gubernatorial candidates debate at Gustavus

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak debuted his campaign for governor of Minnesota Monday night, speaking on the state’s need for progressive leadership and strong fiscal management.

Rybak talked about key issues facing the state — from higher education to gay marriage — alongside 11 other candidates running in the 2010 race at a debate at Gustavus Adolphus College .

Rybak’s appearance campaigning for governor comes less than one week after winning reelection as Mayor of Minneapolis.

“I was born in a great state, and I don’t want to die in a mediocre one,” Rybak said to the young crowd of about 200 students and community members.

Seven DFL candidates dominated the scene, all in agreement that state taxes must be raised to stabilize the state budget.

Talk focused on those topics most directly relevant to the state’s students, including job creation, higher education funding and offering solutions to the state’s budget deficit.

“As the budget goes up and down, it reduces predictability,” DFL candidate Steve Kelley said. “We need to have a system that’s both progressive and stable.”

Republican candidate Leslie Davis said the government can’t “pay debit with debt and get out of debt.” Davis added that while the economy is in a downturn, things could get worse.

Together, DFLers argued for increased funding for higher education and greater accessibility to the state’s higher education institutions.

“Too many students are graduating with too much debt,” said DFL candidate Margaret Anderson-Kelliher , citing that many of today’s students graduate college with debt in amounts equivalent to that of a house mortgage.

As the ratio of state funding for higher education to tuition dollars continues to shift — University of Minnesota tuition dollars exceeded the institution’s state funding for the first time this year — the candidates agreed that education has to be made a state priority.

“I don’t care how tough the times are, we’ve got to find a way to do it,” DFL candidate John Marty said.

“You get what you pay for — you invest [in education] and we see results,” Kelliher said.

Rybak was one of only two candidates who touched on the subject of gay marriage, and was applauded when he said he would proudly sign a bill in support of it.

Susan Solarz , Ph.D. program coordinator at the University of Minnesota said she attended the debate because her choice candidate, Chris Coleman, dropped out of the race and she was looking to learn more about the other candidates before choosing a new one to support.

“We’ve not elected a democrat as governor since 1986 and I think that has damaged the state and certainly has damaged the economy,” she said.

Solarz said she is most concerned with the issues of higher education funding, healthcare and the overall state of the economy.

Other candidates in attendance included DFLers Tom Bakk, Susan Gaertner, Ole Savior and Tom Rukavina , Republican candidate Mike Jungbauer , Green Party candidate Peter Roess and Grassroots Party candidate Chris Wright .