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Sen. Hubert Humphrey's campaign "began to roll the last 10 days of the Wisconsin campaign, and the surge has carried down into West Virginia," the lieutenant governor of Minnesota said here Tuesday.

Karl F. Rolvaag Said West Virginia "looks very good" for the Minnesota senator in his bid for Democratic voters' favor in the May 10 primary, according to word he received from Humphrey workers after his arrival in the state Monday night.

He declared that two weeks before the Wisconsin presidential primary, it was predicted that "Kennedy would carry the entire state," but Humphrey gains in popularity enabled him to win four congressional districts.

Lt. Gov. Rolvaag noted that Humphrey scored heavily in the agricultural areas, and "we feel nobody can be elected in 1960 who can't carry the agricultural Midwest," where Secretary of Agriculture Benson's farm policies constitute an "overpowering issue."

He said of Sen. John F. Kennedy's agreement Tuesday to debate with Humphrey:

"We've tried to do this for a long time. We tried to get Kennedy to debate in Wisconsin:debate or discuss, whatever you want to call it. We feel that is the only way the voters can make an intelligent choice."

Rolvaag said the Massachusetts senator's voting record differs from Humphrey's on public power, the Tennessee Valley Authority, rural electrification, taxes and agriculture.

Moreover, he said, "aims and aspirations" of the candidates should be discussed in the West Virginia campaign, as well as the opponents' programs for peace.

Rolvaag, who met Humphrey a few months after the latter became mayor of Minneapolis, in 1945, planned to start on a tour of the state today. He said he's been informed that his fellow Minnesotan has strong support in the southern part of the state.

The problem of distressed areas by automation are familiar to Humphrey, Rolvaag said, because iron yards in Minnesota have decreased employment through automation. New processes in mining of iron have been another factor, with low-grade, ore-bearing rock being extracted from the earth "with just machinery."

He said that situation gives Humphrey an added degree of sympathy for the problems of West Virginia coal miners.