Lawmakers question need and suggest "overreach."

**UPDATED** In an embarrassing misstep, the Senate’s omnibus tax bill was initially defeated on a 34-32 vote on Monday. Seven DFLers joined all but one GOP legislator in voting against the bill, which raises $1.9 billion in additional revenue.

With most major finance bills clearing the House and Senate floors, attention will now turn towards conference committees this week. Conferees on several bills have already been appointed by legislative leaders.

There’s an old adage at the Capitol that first-term legislators should be seen and not heard. St. Paul can take some getting used to, the thinking goes, and most issues debated at the Legislature are so complex that newcomers would do well to sit back quietly and learn.

In their first joint action of the 2013 session, the newly elected Democratic leaders of the Minnesota Legislature held a news conference to show they were on the same page regarding broad goals for the biennium. First and foremost, House Speaker Paul Thissen and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk promised to balance a projected $1.1 billion budget deficit without gimmicks and without heading into a government shutdown.

Foung Hawj’s initial run for a Senate seat didn’t suggest that he had a bright future in electoral politics. In a crowded, nine-candidate DFL primary field in 2010, Hawj won just 10 percent of the vote.

The new DFL legislative majorities that will take power in January owe a lot to the rejiggering of the geographic balance within their caucuses.

Leaders from all four legislative caucuses are spending the waning days of the 2012 campaign barnstorming key districts around the state.

DFL legislative and party leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton plan to tour swing districts throughout the state in the six days before the Nov. 6 general election.

The Apple Valley-area seat is open due to Chris Gerlach’s retirement.