Where’d all the issues go?

The three major-party candidates for governor debated in Duluth this morning. As with past debates, the answers were predictable because they’ve been pretty much the same answers since the primary election. DFLer Mark Dayton, GOPer Tom Emmer, and IPer Tom Horner debated in a session organized by the Duluth News Tribune.

It doesn’t appear that many issues other than those surrounding business will be debated in this election. Most of the debates sponsored so far, have been sponsored by business organizations.

There’s no question that the economy is issue #1, but what are issues #2, 3, and 4?

Here’s the list of issues which more than 32,000 people ranked (via Select A Candidate) in the gubernatorial election four years ago:

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2006 was pre-meltdown, of course. But 2008 wasn’t. Here’s the issues rankings by 44,283 who took the Select A Candidate survey in the Senate race that year in Minnesota.

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Curiously, “job creation” has not been the overwhelming issue ranked as “most important” by the 12,000+ taking this year’s Select A Candidate quiz for governor.

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