Gov. Mark Dayton has sent a letter to Rep. Sarah Anderson -- chair of the House Redistricting Committee -- raising questions about the process underway for redrawing legislative districts based on 2010 census data.

Former DFL Rep. David Bly is a plaintiff in the suit, along with Audrey Britton, who ran for the Legislature in House District 43A.

Based on its population growth, the 6th will need to be redrawn. How exactly that will be done, however, is where the political wrangling will come into play.

Minnesota's 8th Congressional District is one of ten districts across the country identified by the Cook Political Report as being on the "bubble" for elimination pending the release of U.S. Census data on Tuesday. If Minnesota does retain its eight seats, expect the fight to focus on redrawing the 6th Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy says he is optimistic but not 100 percent sure the state will keep all eight of its congressional seats in the next round of redistricting.

In the Senate, Michel will head redistricting from a subcommittee of the committee on rules and administration. In the House, Rep. Sarah Anderson will chair the redistricting committee.

Brodkorb, who worked on redistricting in 2001 for Senate Republicans, will be the state GOP's lead on redistricting next year.

Concerned is not a strong enough word to describe political scholar Norm Ornstein's feelings about the polarization in today's politics. Among the many reasons Ornstein cited during an event at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs for the current level of partisanship is redistricting.

Minnesota will narrowly hang onto all of its congressional House seats when districts are redrawn next year, according to a report released Sunday by Election Data Services.

A glance at the wide population swings in some of Minnesota's legislative districts is a reminder that lawmakers don't redraw the districts every 10 years for the heck of it: Major population shifts are frequently in play.