For better or worse, Michael Brodkorb was back on the campaign trail last week. This time, however, the former GOP attack dog, deputy Republican Party chair and Senate communications guru who helped mastermind the 2010 GOP takeover of the chamber has materialized in a glossy pink and blue mailer that’s being used to attack Republicans.

Two years ago, the contest for an open St. Cloud-area House seat was the closest in the state. On Election Day the results showed that Republican King Banaian eked out a 10-vote victory over DFLer Carol Lewis. Following an automatic recount, that margin stretched to 13 votes out of nearly 11,000 cast.

St. Cloud attorney Carol Lewis has registered her campaign committee to run as a DFLer for the District 15 Senate seat of GOP freshman Sen. John Pederson. In 2010 Lewis ran against King Banaian for an open 15B House seat, and lost by 13 votes.

DFL state House candidate Carol Lewis conceded defeat to Republican King Banaian in an open seat in the St. Cloud area that was decided by a mere 10 votes.

Many Republican frosh have records of local civic service HD 15B: King Banaian King Banaian was surrounded by politics growing up in New Hampshire. The state is inundated with presidential hopefuls every four years, and Banaian was recruited at 15 to put flyers on doors for the George McGovern campaign.

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.

A negative mailing arrived in Republican state Senate candidate Dan Hall's district last weekend that caught him by surprise.

House DFLers, who are trying to protect a sizable majority, swamped Republicans in fundraising through Oct. 18. But House Republicans spent more on independent expenditures in contested races.

Mark Dayton rode a dominating performance in greater Minnesota to a narrow victory in Tuesday's DFL gubernatorial primary, edging party endorsee Margaret Anderson Kelliher by just over 6,500 votes out of over 440,000 cast. One-time House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, who spent over $5 million on his primary campaign, garnered just over 80,000 votes.

In three campaigns, state Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud, has never received less than 65 percent of the vote. That electoral dominance would suggest that Democrats should be able to hold on to House District 15B despite Haws' retirement.