In the days leading up to a contentious Republican primary contest last year between Connie Doepke and Dave Osmek for a Senate seat in the western suburbs, Americans for Prosperity Minnesota circulated a mailing. Doepke went on to lose the election by just 107 votes.

On the afternoon that the House cast its historic vote in favor of gay marriage — completely monopolizing attention at the Capitol — the Senate quietly debated a bill overhauling the state’s campaign finance rules. Most notably, the bill would significantly increase caps on spending and contributions for political campaigns.

Obamacare is here to stay. That is the apparent takeaway from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that largely upheld the 2010 federal health care overhaul.

While legislative leaders haggled in private regarding the 2012 session’s marquee legislation, rank-and-file legislators spent long hours on the floors of the House and Senate processing members’ pet bills.

On the hot-button subject of the state insurance exchanges mandated by the 2010 federal health care law, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) has put itself at odds with a broad swath of conservatives who oppose what they call “Obamacare” in all its manifestations.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) has joined the ranks of traditional Republican allies who are supporting the push to create a state-based health insurance exchange system.

The changing demographics and DFL-friendly voting record of Senate District 46 signaled an easy win for DFL Sen.-elect Chris Eaton in Tuesday’s special election.

The news that state campaign finance officials had released a long-awaited statement on donor disclosure rules barely made a ripple in the political news cycle, but the opinion figures to make Minnesota a critical battleground in the national, post-Citizens United legal war over transparency, privacy and campaign money.

With an upcoming gubernatorial election, every seat in the Minnesota Legislature up for grabs and what some are calling a conservative political groundswell, forces on both sides of the abortion battle are gearing up to support candidates whom they see as allies.

Vis a vis Tom Hauser's reports (discussed here) that Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer backed off of picking Linda Runbeck at the last minute due to objections from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) and other anti-abortion rights interests in the party base, it's worth noting that it would not be the first time Emmer has clashed with the influential MCCL.