Housley had a relatively nondescript year as a freshman in the Senate last year, but is still well-known among Republicans.

Democrats had an outstanding night on Tuesday. They won back control of the Minnesota House and Senate, picked up a congressional seat, and defeated two contentious amendments that most political observers expected to prevail.

Senate Districts 2 and 4 in northwest Minnesota form a band that stretches from Moorhead to the Northwest Angle on the Canadian border. Along that path lie a few legislative races that figure to have an impact on the larger partisan tussle for control of the state House and Senate.

The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races.

House District 2A is not campaign turf for the faint-hearted. A diffuse region made up of 100 far-flung communities, the district is roughly the size of Connecticut, albeit with about one-90th the population.

On Tuesday afternoon, officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers union met at the DFL headquarters in St. Paul with Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk and House Minority Leader Paul Thissen.

On the anniversary of the start of last year's 20-day government shutdown and at the start of a critical legislative campaign season, D FL House Minority Leader Paul Thissen took the podium to blame the Republican majorities for the historic shuttering of state government and ask Minnesotans to avoid a “shutdown sequel" by electing DFL majorities.

Barring some unlikely resurrection as part of a close-of-session grand bargain, the long-troubled Vikings stadium bill has apparently drawn its last breath of 2012.