Former Rep. Rick Nolan was overwhelmingly endorsed by the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party over the weekend in the 8th district, the party’s best chance to pick up a seat this year.

Nolan won 76 percent of the delegate vote at the district convention, but he still faces a competitive Aug. 14 primary against Duluth City Councilor Jeff Anderson and Tarryl Clark, the 2010 nominee against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) in the 6th district. Clark, who moved to Duluth to run for this seat, announced in March that she would not participate at the convention.

They’re all running for the chance to take on Rep. Chip Cravaack, a freshman Republican who had $629,000 in the bank as of March 31. Clark ended the first quarter with $418,000 in cash on hand, 10 times more than Nolan and 20 times more than Anderson.

Clark used that cash edge to air her first ad of the campaign, a radio spot launched Monday morning that is running on about nine stations in the Iron Range for the next two weeks.