Minnesotans United for All Families, the main group opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, has assembled a 35-member steering committee to guide its efforts. The group includes four state legislators: Reps. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, and Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.

In a Democratic safe haven like Minneapolis, it’s no surprise that the political drama in electing a replacement for retiring Sen. Linda Berglin is among DFLers.

As Minnesota’s Republican Party was giddily tweeting the news that the party had fielded candidates for all 201 seats in the state Legislature for the first time in 30 years, the Independence Party of Minnesota was quietly celebrating its own milestone: 16 candidates for the Legislature in 2010, seven in Senate districts and nine in House districts.

At the end of a Thursday hearing of the state House and Senate housing committees, Ken Kelash, DFL-Minneapolis, the Senate’s housing subcommittee chairman, asked for ways to improve affordable housing while saving money. Chip Halbach, executive director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership, said after the hearing that housing advocates got the message.