Of those who show up at the polls, swing voters, not the party base, determine elections in our new political system.

The legal challenges and allegations in the race between Rep. Phyllis Kahn and her primary challenger, Mohamud Noor, have reached new heights in the feverish race for Minneapolis' House District 60B.

Former Republican Gov. Al Quie, in a very Al Quie move, has now thrown his weight between two candidates running primary elections against the GOP's endorsed candidates in statewide races.

1) Democrats and Republicans are preparing for President Barack Obama’s visit to Minnesota on Thursday, Minnesota Public Radio reports. Obama, who will arrive on Thursday, will convene ...

The 2014 legislative session could set the stage for a high-profile battle over how Minnesota picks its judges. A broad coalition is renewing a push to pass a ballot initiative that would move the state to a judicial retention election system.

Six years ago GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature deadlocked over a $466 million budget deficit. The DFL-controlled Senate wanted to raise nearly $1 billion by increasing income taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents. Pawlenty dismissed the move as “profoundly stupid.”

Tempers flared and debates grew heated around the Capitol over the past week as Republicans in the House put their controversial legislative redistricting map on the table. The map carves up a new political landscape that pits 26 incumbents against one another - 20 in the House and six in the Senate - and all but one of the matchups put a DFLer, or two, in peril.

A ferocious pushback by Education Minnesota cast the 70,000-member statewide teacher's union in the role of session bogeyman. The union and its head, Tom Dooher, fought the bill to a standstill in the end; it lost by a tight 68-65 margin in the House, and did not reach the floor in the Senate.

Tom Horner took a bigger risk than most when he embarked on his run for governor of Minnesota. The former Republican pundit and strategist turned Independence Party candidate alienated many of his old political allies when he switched party affiliation to challenge to GOP candidate Tom Emmer and DFLer Mark Dayton.

Tom Horner alienated many of his old political allies in the Republican Party when he switched to the Independence Party to run for the governor's office. His estrangement from the Republican Party was made even clearer over the weekend, when GOP delegates voted for a ban on 18 high-profile Republicans who supported him. Horner says move reflects a party that is polarized and extreme.