Reduce government. Reduce taxes. Reduce regulations.

While some come to the Freeborn County Fair for the entertainment, the rides and the food, state House Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, visited the fair Thursday to meet Albert Lea area residents and to spread his message of change for government and for the seat of governor.

Emmer, 48, who has visited several county fairs and other cities to meet fellow Minnesotans during the last four weeks, said he thinks Minnesota needs to get back to where it’s working from the individual up to the government, not from the government down to the individual. The size of government needs to be reduced, he said.

He noted he’s a strong proponent of states’ rights, and he thinks Minnesota needs to change its course so that it can return to prosperity.

Since he announced he’s running for governor about a month ago, Emmer said he is making an effort to get to all parts of the state because of the importance of candidates to sit down with people and let them see what’s really in their minds and hearts.

Some legislators think 80 percent of people know who they are, but in reality only 10 percent do, Emmer said.

Because of that, he’s been working from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day to travel around the state at different fairs and other events, he noted.

After his stop in Albert Lea Thursday, he was headed to a couple of other individual stops before heading to Rochester.

Meeting with people around the state, Emmer said he’s hearing a lot of people who are saying that the Republican Party is alive and well.

After the presidential election, many people declared that the Republican Party was finished, but that notion is actually changing, he said.

He said others have noted that Republicans are a party of principles but those principles aren’t always followed.

That’s not true with him, he said.

As a private practice attorney before he started in the House of Representatives three terms ago, Emmer said he is the one from the Republican Party who is from the outside.

“I think it’s going to take someone who has an outside-in view,” he said. “We need a fresh perspective.”

He said there’s too many career politicians who are worried about poll numbers that they don’t do what they know is right.

“We can’t bite our nose off to spite our face,” Emmer said.

Representatives from both the Freeborn County Republican Party and the Freeborn County Democratic Farmer Labor Party said they did not know if any other gubernatorial candidates were planning to stop any other day of the fair.

Thus far, the Freeborn County Fair has proven to be a light year for political candidates.