There were few surprises when the Minnesota House GOP released committee rosters last week. Legislators, Republican and Democrat alike, landed in spots where they've sat before, or - in the case of new lawmakers - where they have accrued relevant experience in their professional and personal lives.

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen named five fellow Democratic representatives that will join him in leading the caucus next session.

The House DFL caucus will meet tonight at 7 to review election results and select a new minority leader from the caucus. As we tweeted a few minutes ago, the rumored candidates include the three people who were angling to be Speaker Tony Sertich's number two: Reps. Steve Simon, Melissa Hortman, and Erin Murphy. But Tina Liebling (Rochester) and Paul Thissen (Minneapolis) are also said to be in the hunt, and more interested parties may emerge at the meeting.

The Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House and Senate are meeting between now and Sunday to organize and decide on leadership after a presumed DFL-stronghold in the Legislature fell into the GOP's hands Tuesday night.

Trolling through the House chamber Monday to get comment on the developing DFL caucus leadership picture was like pulling teeth. Most legislators were focused on the task at hand - passing a flood and tornado relief bill - and wanted to reserve talks of leadership until the general election passed.

Capitol Report has learned that House Democrats will gather to caucus just two days after the election, and the central agenda item will likely be to choose new leadership.

State House candidate Tom Heyd doesn't relish the idea of extending the state sales tax to clothing. And from what he's heard door-knocking in the conservative District 16B, voters aren't excited about it either.

Two weeks before Minnesota's political contribution refund (PCR) program expired, Rep. Julie Bunn, DFL-Lake Elmo, and about nine volunteers unleashed a full-tilt fundraising drive.

The power divide between DFLers and Republicans in the Minnesota House may look daunting on its face, but not so long ago the GOP held a similarly imposing majority.

Back in the 1990s, in another political lifetime, political operatives like Mark Penn and Karl Rove made names for themselves by exploiting the advantages of closely defined messages to specific groups of voters via direct mail.