DFL party activist announces he's running for senate

A tax attorney with a ubiquitous Minnesota name stepped Tuesday into a U.S. Senate field that already features two big-name Democratic candidates.

Bob Olson, a DFL party insider and activist for almost four decades, said he'll challenge humorist Al Franken and trial lawyer Mike Ciresi for the chance to take on Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008.

While Olson lacks the recognition of the other two, he is already using his Scandinavian name as a campaign punchline: "Vote for Bob Olson. It may be the Bob Olson you know."

Joking aside, Olson said he believes he is better suited than his rivals to press next-generation energy policies, improvements to the nation's health care system and a more equitable tax system.

His teal campaign signs feature windmill blades, and he devoted much of his first news conference as a candidate to explaining his views on renewable energy. Olson said he wants Congress to put $30 billion a year over the next decade into loan guarantees and tax incentives to promote alternative energy technology.

"It's going to take a boring tax lawyer to get it done right," he said, adding later, "I think Al Franken would be a good senator. I think Mike Ciresi would be a good senator. I think I'd make a better senator."

On Iraq, Olson said it was a mistake to go to war and U.S. troops should be pulled out. But he didn't offer a timetable for that goal.

Olson said he thinks DFL delegates might object to the notion "you need to be famous or wealthy to get the endorsement."

The 61-year-old from Orono says his campaign hopes to raise and spend at least $20,000 a month between now and next year's Democratic endorsing convention. If he doesn't prevail there, he said he'll bow out.

Besides his law practice, Olson founded an energy think tank and he owns a bank with branches in central Minnesota. He said his personal wealth is "not too far" from the $4.3 million to $9.9 million range Franken disclosed in a required filing.

Other candidates either considering or running for the seat are Nobel laureate Peter Agre and perennial office-seeker Dick Franson.

By Brian Bakst, Associated Press Writer

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