The DFL Central Committee Saturday morning voted to move the 2010 nominating convention from its traditional June date to April 23-25. The DFLers will convene in Duluth. (The Minnesota GOP has already taken a similar action and is scheduled to convene the following weekend, April 29-May 1, in Minneapolis.)

The schedule changes could and probably will influence the races for governor. In his official announcement of the schedule change, DFL Chair Brian Melendez suggested that the new schedule "makes our endorsed candidate even more competitive and lets DFLers rally behind their choice earlier, so that we can build greater momentum for the general election." But there's a little fudging in that quote. Since it is widely assumed that the DFL endorsee will face a primary campaign involving three or more serious candidates. the full DFL cannot really unite behind a nominee until after the primary, which traditionally has been held in September. Next year, as I previously reported, the primary will probably be forced by a change in federal law to be moved to August.

It is less clear that the Republican endorsee will face a primary challenge. It's an obvious advantage for the GOP if they can unite behind a nominee on May 1 while the DFL is tied up in a primary.

But if the primary is in August, a DFL convention date move from June to April probably will increase the endorsee's chance of  surviving the primary. The endorsement is going to be hard-fought and will occupy the eventual endorsee until the convention. The likely primary challengers, former Sen. Mark Dayton and former state Rep. Matt Entenza, will be rested and have plenty of funds. (Although I should note that Entenza is seeking the endorsement but preparing to run in a primary whether or not he gets it.)

If the endorsement wasn't decided until June, the endorsee would have just two months to retool and fund-raise for a primary and to take advantage of the other advantages that come with the endorsement (phone banks, party lists, DFL resources, etc.) Moving the convention, and therefore moving the endorsement, back to April, probably helps the endorsee in that regard.

One more thought on the April date. Mayors R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis and Chris Coleman of St. Paul are preparing to run for governor, but won't make it official until at least November because both of them will be on the ballot for reelection to their current jobs. And earlier convention gives them less time to formally and officially court delegates. On the other hand, there will be a legislative session in early 2010, which will occupy the time of the several guv candidates who are seeking the endorsement (Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Sens. Tom Bakk and John Marty, Reps. Tom Rukavina and Paul Thissen) will be distracted by their legislative duties and will be barred from accepting contributions from lobbyists until the session ends.

So the only DFL candidates who would have neither the late-start problem of the two mayors nor the distraction and fund-raising limitations of the legislators would appear to be Dayton (who is not mounting a serious bid for the endosrement anyway) and Entenza plus Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner and former state Sen. Steve Kelley.