Senate Republicans reamed Democrats in the upper chamber earlier this week for paying Shawn Towle, a longtime Minnesota political consultant and credentialed member of the Senate press corps, roughly $40,000 through two firms while he had special access to the chamber because of his press status.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board has determined that omissions from Sen. Karin Housley's pre-general election report in 2012 were inadvertent. The Senate DFL Caucus had submitted a complaint about a truck used for advertising and a fundraiser aboard a yacht that weren't initially disclosed.

Minnesota’s 2012 Democratic legislative campaigns started about two years ago. The exact date depends on who you ask.

Rumblings about the marriage amendment’s unpopularity in the western suburbs came early in the campaign season. Orange and blue “vote no” signs vastly outnumbered “vote yes” ones, particularly in places like Edina, and Republican candidates running for the Legislature avoided the issue at the doors and in debates at all cost.

Senate Districts 2 and 4 in northwest Minnesota form a band that stretches from Moorhead to the Northwest Angle on the Canadian border. Along that path lie a few legislative races that figure to have an impact on the larger partisan tussle for control of the state House and Senate.

For better or worse, Michael Brodkorb was back on the campaign trail last week. This time, however, the former GOP attack dog, deputy Republican Party chair and Senate communications guru who helped mastermind the 2010 GOP takeover of the chamber has materialized in a glossy pink and blue mailer that’s being used to attack Republicans.

It was one of the first questions a voter asked of two suburban Minnesota House candidates at a recent forum: How were they planning to vote on the two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall?

On its face, the race for Minnesota’s Senate District 9 shouldn’t be competitive. The sprawling Senate district stretches across four socially conservative counties in central Minnesota that have voted overwhelmingly for Republicans in past races.

It’s not hard to see why campaign operatives from both political parties have had Minnesota’s newly drawn Senate District 53 on their radar since day one.

Political operatives who have been crunching the numbers and talking to candidates see no shortage of swing districts in this year’s legislative elections. The new redistricting maps have tweaked the partisan complexion of many districts.