The last remaining DFL-controlled legislative seat in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District might be up for grabs this fall, as a well-known former legislator from the Pawlenty era returns to challenge a freshman representative to represent St. Cloud.

Haws, who represented House District 15B from 2005 until 2010, was 72 years old. In January of 2011 he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

St. Cloud attorney Carol Lewis has registered her campaign committee to run as a DFLer for the District 15 Senate seat of GOP freshman Sen. John Pederson. In 2010 Lewis ran against King Banaian for an open 15B House seat, and lost by 13 votes.

Last year I wrote about an exchange in the 2010 session between now retired Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud, and Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan. Haws sponsored legislation to allow students to transfer credits between MNSCU campuses; Buesgens was incensed that it took an act of the Legislature to do something so common-sensical.

The word of the evening was compromise, and St. Cloud resident Don Bechtold struck the tone early. “You’re not in office to hold your ground and die standing, you’re here to compromise. I drove 10 miles to tell you that,” Bechtold said to GOP Reps. King Banaian and Steve Gottwalt and Sen. John Pederson, who hosted a town hall meeting Monday night. His comments triggered applause from nearly everyone packed tightly into the Haven Township Hall — more than 60 in all — while the legislators quietly nodded and took notes.

The scene was unusual for most Capitol regulars. At an early-session press conference, newly minted House Republican leaders Kurt Zellers and Matt Dean introduced the first symbolic bills of their newfound majority. Standing at their side were the bill authors - two first-time legislators just a few weeks removed from their swearing-in.

The 71-year-old Haws had surgery Tuesday to remove a large tumor from his brain and is currently recovering in the intensive care unit.

Fundraising numbers are by no means the end all-be all indicator of a candidate's electoral success, but some recently released campaign finance reports reveal startling numbers that could point to several GOP takeovers in the state House.

A negative mailing arrived in Republican state Senate candidate Dan Hall's district last weekend that caught him by surprise.

While Democrats nationally are pushing state Sen. Tarryl Clark's bid to take over Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann's seat in the Sixth Congressional District - a long shot by any measure - the DFL Party in Minnesota is working hard to keep the central Minnesota seat she is vacating in blue territory.