From what we can tell a year and a half out, the 2010 MN guv's race ought to be a major, major humdinger. The stakes are high, there's no incumbent in the race and, in all parties, huge fields are gathering of the running-for-it, the running-but-not-yet-admitting-it, the thinking-about-it and the could-decide-to-go-for-it varieties.

Not surprisingly, the national parties are paying attention. On Tuesday, the Democratic Governor's Association put out a fund-raising letter that named four currently-Repub-held governor's offices that the DGA is targeting for takeover and yes, Minnesota is one of the four. The other three are Alaska (where Sarah Palin hasn't indicated her plans), Florida (where Repub Guv Charlie Crist is running for the Senate) and Georgia (another race with no incumbent).

The three besides Minnesota are really red states, while Minnesota is purple-trending-blue. But of the four, Minnesota has been without a Dem guv the longest, and by a very large margin. (In Minnesota, the next inauguration will mark 20 years since Rudy Perpich was guv. Florida had a Dem guv 12 years ago, and in both Georgia and Alaska, it's been just eight years since a Democrat held the guv's office.