U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has long been viewed as all but invincible in 2012. Six years ago she trounced a three-term congressional incumbent by 20 percentage points, the largest margin in a U.S. Senate race in Minnesota in three decades.

The 2012 legislative session should be unlike any in recent memory. That’s in part because there is no budget deficit to erase. The surprising December budget forecast — showing a surplus of nearly $900 million — removes the primary point of contention between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the GOP-controlled Legislature.

A steady downpour didn’t keep Indian gambling workers from flocking outside the state Capitol in St. Paul last April. At least 1,500 people gathered outside on the building’s steps, some arriving by the busload from reservations hours away. Clad in raincoats and shielded by a canopy of umbrellas, workers thrust signs into the air that read, “Rural jobs count too” and “Don’t gamble with my job!”

There’s a sense of aplomb among Minnesota Republicans when they talk about their prospects for coming out on top in this decade’s redistricting process.

Late last month former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty made an appearance on the popular MSNBC show “Morning Joe.” The interview was timed to coincide with a major foreign policy speech that the GOP presidential hopeful was slated to give at the Council on Foreign Relations later that day.

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty Chief of Staff Brian McClung has formed a "strategic partnership" with the St. Paul public relations firm and lobbying shop Goff & Howard. McClung will work with the team on a project-by-project basis."

Deputy Communications Director Bill Walsh has left Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign and returned to his role as communications director for the Minnesota Department of Education.