A proposal would create a special redistricting commission made up of retired — and theoretically nonpartisan — judges to handle the redrawing task from start to finish.

Virginia voters just nominated two men who are almost certain to go to Washington and never agree on anything.

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

Tincher, who currently serves as the director of caucus and legislative services for the House DFL, has accepted a job as Dayton's deputy chief of staff for policy and legislative affairs. Tincher replaces Michele Kelm-Helgen, who was a critical figure in the passage of a bill to build a new Vikings stadium and has since been appointed chairwoman of the newly-formed stadium authority.

n the four months since legislative maps were released, political strategists and journalists have been scrutinizing the new House and Senate districts to determine which ones favor Republicans or Democrats and where the key battlegrounds will be in 2012.

A lot changed in Minnesota’s legislative districts thanks to this year’s new redistricting map. Some incumbents were paired in newly drawn legislative territories; others found themselves installed in districts that bore little resemblance to their old electoral stomping grounds.

In recent weeks, local party activists around Minnesota have commandeered many a school auditorium to endorse candidates for state House and Senate races.

The conventional wisdom from the start was that Session 2012 would be a short one. A healthy budget surplus plus newly redrawn legislative districts meant less work to be done at the Capitol and more to be done back home, where some lawmakers will face intra-party endorsement challenges and others have to get to know a daunting amount of new territory.

Members of the 88th Minnesota Senate sworn in next January will have roughly 40 percent fewer years of cumulative service than the Senate that gaveled out in May 2010.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out after the release of the 2012 legislative map last month. And with local endorsing conventions set to take place throughout March, incumbents and challengers alike have little time to make decisions about their political futures.