At the DFL county convention this morning in St. Louis County, state Sen. Tom Bakk announced that he would drop his bid for the DFL endorsement for governor.

Bakk, of Cook, is the chairman of the Senate Tax Committee. The decision to drop out of the guv race almost certainly means he will keep his seat and probably his chairmanship. Bakk had signaled all along that if he didn't get the endorsement, he hoped to stay in the Senate. He announced today that he would seek endorsment for his current seat at the Eighth Congressional District convention May 1 in Hinckley.

Bakk had substantial support for governor among DFL superdelegates, especially those who were senators, but had drawn little support in the straw poll taken at the precinct caucuses or in the early counts of elected delegates to the state convention. Throughout the campaign, he was viewed as a dark horse, but one who had an outside chance of gaining the endorsement. The most immediate beneficiary of his withdrawal might state Rep. Tom Rukavina, because he is the only remaining Iron Ranger in the race.

While he was in the race, Bakk put on a thoughtful, earnest campaign in which he used both his background as a carpenter and his expertise on taxes to fashion a message slightly different from the rest of the crowded field. He often warned against DFLers -- it seemed this particular remark was intended most directly at former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton -- who think they can solve the state budget problem mostly by raising taxes on rich people.

There just isn't enough money there, he said. In fact, he sometimes said that the long-term structural budget deficit couldn't really be solved by any combination of taxes and spending cuts but would require a big economic development component to create good new jobs. I never was too clear how he proposed to generate that economic development, except through tax cuts or new spending that would most immediately make the deficit bigger.

He also frequently warned DFLers that if the electorate had to choose between two false promises -- a DFLer who promised to solve the problem with new taxes and a Republican who promised not to raise taxes -- voters would probably choose the Republican. He wanted to offer a third alternative, which he described as an "honest conversation" about the depth of the problem and potential solutions.

Bakk's electability argument was to suggest that as a Ranger with small town values, he was the candidate who could appeal to small-town voters in southern  and western Minnesota.

Here are some excerpts from Bakk's withdrawal remarks at the convention this morning:

"After much reflection I did not think we could reach the 60 percent needed for endorsement. Faced with a decision of spending the next month working to earn delegate support or focusing entirely on the immediate problems Minnesota is facing, I’ve chosen the latter and will focus on my work as chair of the Senate Tax Committee.”

“As a carpenter who ran out of unemployment in the 1980s, I understand the stress today’s unemployed Minnesotans face. Every Friday in 2010, more than 200,000 Minnesotans received an unemployment check. A state record of 240,398 unemployment checks were issued January 9 and we’ve reached a point where almost 500 people a week are receiving their last check. Many people are losing their homes, health care or their businesses; this is unacceptable.”

“Until people understand and accept that everyone must be part of the solution to solving the financial crisis there will not be the public support needed to get our state back on track.”

Personally, I felt Bakk added a lot to the field and came across to me as classy and sincere.