The annual clash of ideas at the Capitol is fraught with risk for seven lawmakers seeking to be Minnesota’s next governor.

While they take tough votes and tie their success to initiatives that might fail, their outsider opponents can criticize from the sidelines. Legislators can appear ineffective because of gridlock or be muddied by unwanted sideshows. And even within their own party, they have to watch their backs for intrigue from rivals.

The candidates are spending weekends and evenings trying to corral political activists at local party conventions, while their weekdays are tied up with the very unresolved issues they talk about solving. The race for party delegates peaks this weekend.

The Legislature is embroiled in debates over subsidized health care, public works projects and sex offender treatment. The state’s checking account is overdrawn, running an estimated $1.2 billion short through mid-2011.

Democrats — including House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher of Minneapolis, one of the big names in the race — run the Legislature. But most anything they want has to get past Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential presidential candidate who is on his way out.

Pawlenty already vetoed their first major bill, which would have extended a health plan for poor adults. They blocked a second big veto by withdrawing a construction package. Neither has become law, and it’s not clear that they will. The House is expected to try to override Pawlenty on the health care bill on Monday, but Democrats need GOP help to do so.

Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, one of Kelliher’s rivals for the Democratic endorsement, criticized her for not closing deals.

“We passed a bill and nobody got insurance,” Bakk said. “The second big priority was a jobs-infrastructure bill, and we passed a billion-dollar bill and it doesn’t appear like anybody’s going to work.”

Kelliher said it’s premature to judge a session that’s only three weeks old.

“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can do from the Legislature here, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s a little like being a parent. I can’t control everything my kids do. I can’t control the governor of the state,” she said.

The word won’t be final on the session before party activists have their say. All the legislators have promised to drop out if they don’t get the Democratic-Farmer-Labor or GOP endorsement in April. One of their biggest chances to reel in party delegates comes on Saturday at district conventions around the state.

Legislators in the race are Bakk, Kelliher, Sen. John Marty, Rep. Tom Rukavina and Rep. Paul Thissen for the Democrats and Reps. Tom Emmer and Marty Seifert for the Republicans. Other high-profile Democrats include former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, former state Rep. Matt Entenza, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Minnesota’s crowded race for governor includes seven state lawmakers, who are juggling the politics of the session with the demands of the campaign. They are:

Democrats

Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, chairman of the powerful Senate Taxes Committee. Served 16 years in House and Senate.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher of Minneapolis. As top House leader, Kelliher negotiates with governor and Senate, determines timing of key votes and presides over House chamber during floor sessions. Served 12 years.

Sen. John Marty of Roseville. Heads key Senate health policy committee. Served 24 years.

Rep. Tom Rukavina of Virginia. Oversees spending for higher education and workforce development. Served 24 years.

Rep. Paul Thissen of Minneapolis. Heads key House health policy committee. Served 8 years.

Republicans

Rep. Tom Emmer of Delano. Former deputy minority leader. Served 6 years.

Rep. Marty Seifert of Marshall. Led minority Republicans for three sessions from 2007-2009. Served 14 years.

At the Capitol, there are downsides no matter what they do.

On the GOP side, the health care extension and a plan to build more space for sex offender treatment revealed a split. Seifert and Emmer are in a close race for the endorsement. Seifert won a straw poll of precinct caucusgoers earlier this month.

Seifert voted on the prevailing side of a 125-9 House vote to extend the expiring General Assistance Medical Care program for more than 30,000 poor adults, including homeless people, veterans and the mentally ill.

Now he’s coming under pressure from Democrats and Catholic church leaders to override Pawlenty. The former House minority leader from Marshall, who is Catholic, said he won’t. He said he voted to send the original legislation to a negotiating committee for more work, not directly to Pawlenty.

“You can deconstruct that program in a conference committee in a humane way rather than just say let’s just end it and figure out the solutions later,” Seifert said.

Emmer voted no, calling for a wholesale overhaul of subsidized health care.

Another day, Democrats moved to add one of Pawlenty’s priorities, an $89 million expansion of the state sex offender treatment facility, to their construction bill. Seifert said yes; Emmer said no. Both voted against the final bill.

“I’m not interested in building Cadillac facilities for some of the most despicable human beings on the face of the planet,” said Emmer, an attorney from Delano who made the most of his time at the Capitol this week by holding three campaign news conferences.

The Democratic candidates in the Legislature are dealing with a problem of their own: Pawlenty. If they fail to overrule him, they risk appearing ineffective. If they compromise too quickly, they risk looking like they folded.

Either way, it could help candidates who aren’t in the Legislature, including Dayton, Entenza and Rybak.

Some lawmaker candidates hope the DFL delegates will give them leeway for not achieving their goals because of Pawlenty.

“What this veto showed is that the governor is clearly the problem here,” said Thissen, talking about the health care bill after headlining a nurses rally in the rotunda where he was introduced as “our next governor.” The Minnesota Nurses Association had previously endorsed him.

From the outside, Rybak said not much is getting accomplished at the Capitol. He edged Kelliher to win his party’s nonbinding precinct caucus poll earlier this month.

“It’s tough for people to figure out who’s right or wrong,” Rybak said. “It’s clear it’s broken.”