So far, this year’s race for governor of Minnesota is shaping up as the battle of the ex-senators.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Republican voters in the state finds former Senator Norm Coleman with 52% of the vote in the contest for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. All of his challengers are in single digits, marking little change from a survey in November.

Among likely Democratic voters in Minnesota, Mark Dayton, who served in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2007, now captures 34% of the vote to lead three other hopefuls in the race for his party’s nomination. In November, Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak were tied with 30% support each. Rybak now picks up 25% of the Democratic vote.

Coleman lost his Senate seat to Democrat Al Franken after a six-month legal dispute over the votes cast in the November 2008 election. Dayton opted to retire after one term, expressing unhappiness with politics in Washington, D.C.

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The new survey was taken Monday night before former State Auditor Pat Anderson’s decision to drop out of the Republican race and seek her old job instead. But Anderson’s five percent (5%) support in the survey isn’t likely to cause a shift in the GOP contest.

Coleman’s chief remaining challengers - former Minnesota House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and State Representative Tom Emmer – each get nine percent (9%) of the Republican vote. Seven percent (7%) of GOP voters prefer some other candidate, and 18% are undecided.

After Dayton and Rybak, next among the Democratic contenders is Margaret Anderson Kelliher, speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, with 12% support. Matt Entenza, who served as state House minority leader from 2003 to 2006, gets five percent (5%) of the Democratic vote. Ten percent (10%) like another candidate, and 13% are not sure whom they’ll support.

Coleman is widely expected to enter the gubernatorial race and capture the GOP nomination. Among Democrats, the picture is cloudier, with a number of candidates in the race. Rasmussen Reports surveyed on the candidates generally viewed as the leading contenders for now.

Both parties hold their primaries on September 14.

Current Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, has announced that he will not seek a third term this year. Forty-six percent (46%) of all Minnesota voters say they would not vote for Pawlenty if he wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, but nearly as many (42%) say they would support the governor if he led the GOP’s national ticket.

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