At Tuesday night’s hearing over a controversial plan for the PolyMet open pit copper mine, a sharply divided crowd traded talking points about the risks and rewards of copper mining. It is a good bet that few were swayed from their original opinions by the three hours of testimony, the 59 speakers, the guy who performed a Pete Seeger-inspired anti-mining song, the prophecies of a pristine wilderness despoiled or the happy visions of an Iron Range restored to prosperity by “mining done right.”

The last time folks on Duluth’s east side had an open seat to fill in the Minnesota House of Representatives, President George H.W. Bush was running for re-election, the sitcom “Cheers” was still on the air, and Duluth residents eligible to vote for the first time this fall had not yet been born.

The scene at the first public debate between candidates in Minnesota’s northeast 8th Congressional District this year was far tamer than the same event just two years ago.

DFL union leader Erik Simonson seemed to have all the right support lined up for his bid for the House District 7B seat early this week, but he might face competition for the DFL Party backing this weekend after his estranged daughter claimed he abandoned her in a Duluth News Tribune story.

Embattled DFL Rep. Kerry Gauthier shocked nearly everyone in the Minnesota political firmament on Wednesday morning when he announced that he plans to seek reelection to his seat in the state House of Representatives. The announcement came one week after it was publicly reported that Gauthier had been investigated by Duluth police following an incident in which he used a Craigslist ad to meet and have oral sex with a 17-year-old male at an area rest stop.

Voters are faced with a familiar dilemma in the heart of the Minnesota Iron Range. The unexpected retirement of 26-year DFL Rep. Tom Rukavina at the end of session has left a big hole in DFL-friendly House District 6B, which stretches across cities like Virginia and Eveleth and includes some of the state’s most mining-dependent towns.

A handful of August primary elections are heating up across the state thanks to the new redistricting map, an uptick in legislative retirements and widespread dissatisfaction with the job lawmakers are doing in St. Paul.

The notion that Tarryl Clark is gunning for the DFL endorsement in her quest for Congress has all but been abandoned by party activists in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District.

With the entry of Daniel Fanning into the 8th Congressional District race, the DFL field seeking to challenge U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack next year has grown more populous and more complex.

Over the years, DFL campaigns for high-profile offices have had a tendency to blow past party endorsing conventions and end in contested primaries.