It’s not unprecedented that a south-central Minnesota school teacher would pull off a political upset.

Mankato English teacher John Dorn knocked off incumbent Republican state Rep. Mark Piepho in 1986 and went on to win nine more times. Mankato geography teacher Tim Walz shocked Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht in 2006. Neither teacher had run for political office previously.

Walz was praised for his high-energy campaigning. Dorn attributed his success partly to the relationships and trust he built with students and their parents during his teaching career — and joked that he had enough relatives in Mankato to tip most elections his way.

Kath’s energy is brought up often by people talking about him. He echoed Dorn’s comments about the relationships that teaching builds within a community. And the native of the village of Meriden, midway between Waseca and Owatonna, said his list of relatives just doesn’t stop.

Winning attributes

Kath, who estimates he knocked on 10,000 doors during the campaign, made it sound like the fourth most common question he heard from residents of Waseca and Steele counties was some variation of: “How are you related to so-and-so Kath?”

But the top three questions were about the ailing economy, his position on education issues and where he stood on health care. As a teacher of political science and economics at Owatonna High, he could talk with a ready knowledge of the economy and the looming recession.

His nine years of teaching gave him a strong background in education and school finance. An advocate of accessible and affordable medical care, he organized a community forum on the problems and possible solutions to the growing health-care crisis — bringing in local and statewide experts.

Mostly, though, he showed voters a moderate political philosophy, a quick mind and a willingness to listen, said Muellerleile, who volunteered on his campaign.

Laughing, Muellerleile said she sometimes wished she could tape a black mustache below his nose to make him look older. Because once people got past his youthful appearance, they saw he had a lot to offer.

“He looks far younger than he is, but don’t let that fool you,” Muellerleile said. “He is a bright, bright young man. ... He has the knowledge. And now he can put it to use.”

The science of politics

Richard Leitch, an associate professor of political science at Gustavus and an adviser to Kath when he was a student there, said Kath’s attributes were difficult to miss even during their first meeting when he was a prospective student at Gustavus.