8 gubernatorial candidates attending forum in St. Peter

Gubernatorial candidates representing four political parties are expected at a nonpartisan forum Monday night at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

Organizers say six DFLers and two Republicans have confirmed they'll participate, as well as candidates from the Green Party and Grassroots Party. All declared candidates were invited.

One of the expected participants, DFL Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, said there are a lot of candidate events getting scheduled, and sometimes a few fall on the same day. Bakk said every candidate can't get to every forum.

"There's generally always somebody missing, and I think some of it just conflicts with other events," Bakk said. "Some of it is candidates are trying to focus additional time on fundraising. You can't spend all of your time at candidate events. If you're going to be a viable candidate, you've got to show that you can also raise money. And that takes time also."

Republicans running for governor will gather for events this week in Duluth, Mankato and Marshall. Democrats, who started the week Sunday in Moorhead, have additional events in Cottage Grove and Minneapolis.