The decision by Pat Anderson to remove herself from the governor’s race and jump into the state auditor’s contest certainly has raised vitriol levels in the state.

The first comment came from Anderson, who served one term as auditor before losing to DFLer Rebecca Otto in 2006.

At a news conference this morning, Anderson stressed the importance of the auditor’s job and then took a nifty shot at Otto.

“I do not share the opinion of the current occupant of the office that the State Auditor is ‘the Rodney Dangerfield of constitutional offices, one not always getting respect,’ ” said Anderson. “That is true only if the State Auditor acts like Rodney Dangerfield.”

In her prepared statement and in comments to individual reporters, Anderson continually described Otto as a “do-nothing auditor.”

Not surprisingly, Otto has a different view. “I’ve been cleaning up after her for three years,” Otto said in a statement.

The DFL was even less kind, with state party Chair Brian Melendez calling Anderson “an incompetent grandstander.”

Not surprising, the men who’d been in the campaign for the Republican endorsement for governor were praising Anderson’s decision to leave that race; a decision she made in part because, she said,  of  “the shadow” Norm Coleman is casting on the gubernatorial campaign. Many contributors are sitting on the sideline, waiting to see what Coleman will do.

Though she expects that Coleman will announce his entry into the race “very soon,” she does not believe he’ll have an easy march to Republican endorsement.

“I think Norm has a huge uphill battle for the endorsement,’’ she said.

Anderson said that she’d made the decision to switch races “a couple of weeks ago,” but did not tell her supporters until late Monday evening.