The idea is significantly more popular with the young and less affluent, and polls much better with Democrats than Republicans.

Close on the heels of Tuesday’s election, members of the new DFL House and Senate majorities gathered behind closed doors on Thursday to elect their leaders. As expected, the minority leaders who helped steer Democrats back into control — Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook — were elevated to House speaker and Senate majority leader.

GOP freshman Vogel contends with local teacher, union head Sawatzky

After piling on to an old-style, double-decker excursion boat at Rosemount on Wednesday morning, scores of citizens, politicians and government agency employees listened as officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlined an ambitious plan to revitalize the most degraded stretch of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

Nobody knows what the legislative maps will look like in 2012. The politically charged redistricting process will almost certainly be decided by the courts, most likely in February. But that uncertainty over legislative district boundaries hasn’t stopped numerous challengers on both sides of the aisle from declaring their candidacies.

Jeff Hilger describes himself as first and foremost a horse guy. He owns a sprawling farm in Stillwater where he breeds thoroughbreds. He has also worked in the corporate world. One thing Hilger’s a bit low on is political experience.

For former DFL Sen. Jim Carlson, it was a matter of a little reflection and time to “lick my wounds” before he knew he was ready to run again for the state Senate. Carlson, who served one term in the chamber, was ousted last fall by Republican newcomer Ted Daley as part of a massive GOP wave that saw the party take control of both the House and Senate for the first time in nearly four decades.

Today's 2010 campaign finance reports indicate some state legislative races were spendy affairs. We survey some of the marquee races.

The Minnesota Vikings have had a disastrous season on the field. Just one year after nearly reaching the Super Bowl, and with virtually the same roster, the team inexplicably scuffled to a 3-7 record in its first 10 games. At this point it would take a miracle for the Vikings to qualify for the playoffs. Last week head coach Brad Childress was pushed off the plank in order to placate the angry Sunday afternoon faithful.

In many cases, DFLers simply got caught in an undertow in districts that are fundamentally split in their political allegiances; in some, like rural Senate District 16, they handed back control of districts no one had expected them to win in the first place; in others, it appears, they failed to take steps to protect incumbents who faced discernible pockets of Republican opposition.