Despite their minority status in both the state House and Senate, the DFL caucuses significantly outperformed Republicans in fundraising from the beginning of January until the end of July.

Political operatives who have been crunching the numbers and talking to candidates see no shortage of swing districts in this year’s legislative elections. The new redistricting maps have tweaked the partisan complexion of many districts.

The group announced plans on Wednesday to run newspaper and online ads in targeted legislative districts in rural and suburban Minnesota for the first week of July, the one-year aniversary of the first week of the historic shuttering of state government in the state, when DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the GOP-led Legislature battled out a solution to the state's $5 billion budget deficit.

DFL House caucus spokeswoman Carrie Lucking will move into the executive director role at ABM, taking the place of current director Denise Cardinal as she transitions into her new job as founding director.

The key staffers who have plotted the remaking of the Senate Republican Caucus in recent years will be running the show when they take the majority in January. Campaign guru Cullen Sheehan will continue as the caucus's chief of staff. Indefatigable GOP political operative and deputy state party chair Michael Brodkorb will continue in his role as communications director.

In the wake of losing the majority, the House DFL did some shuffling in naming its new leadership staff. Among the new faces are staffers from Tarryl Clark's campaign this year against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Teacher and veteran DFL campaign pro Carrie Lucking will join the Tarryl Clark for Congress team as communications director on Tuesday. Lucking was most recently Paul Thissen's gubernatorial campaign spokester.

Paul Thissen's communications director offers a glimpse behind the scenes at the DFL convention: inside the war room of Thissen, who will be vying for the party's gubernatorial endorsement on Saturday.