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NEW ULM - State Rep. Paul Kohls brought his campaign for becoming the Republican nominee for governor next year to New Ulm earlier this week.

He came armed with the prediction that the 2010 gubernatorial race will be the most expensive in state history.

Kohls, 35, who lives in Victoria on the metro outskirts, is in the midst of his fourth term in the House.

He's not afraid of being labeled a conservative in a race that already has attracted at least a half dozen Republicans.

Although there are a number of potential candidates on the GOP side, Kohls feels the race will be won by the candidate who can raise the most money, and he hopes to be that candidate.

"The governor candidate is going to need to raise $5 million, which is a lot of money, and [as to] my fund-raising, the checks don't come in as quickly as you would like them to do, but it's off to a good start. I'm very pleased with where I'm at," Kohls said.

"I obviously have a long way to go to get to that $5 million mark. I think that not nearly that much money will be needed to get through the endorsing process, whether it's $4- or $5- or $600,000, something like that. To be competitive in the endorsing process, I think [that amount] is what's going to be required," he said.

"I have every bit of confidence that I will be able to hit that without too much trouble. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm not concerned. Then, whomever the candidate ends up being, I'm going to abide by the endorsement."

Kohls, who lives in Victoria with his wife and their two children, is a product of the western 'burbs, having grown up in the northwestern suburb of New Hope. and being in business, he feels all that helped shape his conservative viewpoint.

"As a legislator, I have been focused on fiscal issues [and] on tax issues, I'm a member of the House Tax Committee and have been since I was first elected. I'm also a member of the Finance Committee, which is the umbrella committee for all the spending that happens," Kohls said.

"I think [in the] 2010 election that the primary issues are going to be issues related to the cities' economy related to the size and scope of state government, and those are issues that as a legislator, I've spent my time focused on. Almost exclusively, I've certainly carried legislation for my local community, but in terms of what I've worked on from a statewide basis, it has all been about trying to make Minnesota a more attractive place to do business," he said.

"It started as grow a business, keep a business. We have to do some things to make our tax environment, our regulatory environment more conducive to doing business because, with unemployment at record highs, we need to be doing everything we can to help people find jobs, and the one thing that state government can do is improve the tax and regulatory environment in which our businesses have to operate," Kohls said.

"That's an issue that I think, you know, resonates not only with Republicans but resonates with people who [are a part of] middle America, middle Minnesota. People who don't necessarily identify themselves as a Republican or a Democrat," he said.

'Everybody cares about having a job, making sure that their family members have jobs, and the best way to ensure that people have opportunities for jobs is basically to have government do everything we can to lower the tax burden and lower the regulatory burden on our businesses," Kohls said.

Ron Larsen can be reached at rlarsen@nujournal.com