 A former United Methodist minister and manager of the Divisions of Public Services for Anoka County, he ran on a platform that supported jobs, education, transportation and as a socially conservative Democrat who opposed legalized abortion and supported a Federal Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage.He had been selected to receive support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and had received the early endorsement of several important labor unions.Tinklenberg's opponent for the DFL nomination was Patty Wetterling.