State Sen. Julie Rosen, a Republican from Fairmont, is being mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2010, or else as a challenger to U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in the 1st Congressional District.

But Rosen tells Minnesota Independent that it's too early to decide on either.

“I haven’t really given it too much serious thought. I’m concentrating on just completing my job in the Senate,” she said.

Still, the news site notes:

...she certainly sounds like a politician with ambitions beyond her current post. Rosen touts her background as an agronomist, her work on the health-care issues at the Capitol and the fact that she’s a woman as political assets.

“I would be a very formidable candidate against Walz,” she says. “If I decided to run I’d work like a banshee.”

She argues that the two-term Democrat is out of touch with the First Congressional District on issues such as health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation. Despite the fact that Walz won re-election by 30 points in 2008, she believes he’s vulnerable.

“I don’t think I would be even entertaining the thought if I thought he was serving us correctly in all areas,” she says.

So does that mean Rosen’s leaning toward the First District instead of a run at the state’s top elected office? Not necessarily.

“I don’t have a preference one over the other,” she says.