In recent weeks, local party activists around Minnesota have commandeered many a school auditorium to endorse candidates for state House and Senate races.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out after the release of the 2012 legislative map last month. And with local endorsing conventions set to take place throughout March, incumbents and challengers alike have little time to make decisions about their political futures.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out following the release of new legislative maps.

At least three prospective Republican candidates for the Minnesota Senate crowded a gathering of activists in the newly drawn Senate District 39 over the weekend.

Fallout has been almost constant since release of the state's redistricting maps last week, and over the weekend a few more incumbent-on-incumbent match-ups became clear, some House members switched to run in open Senate seats and new candidates emerged to take their place.

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.