A burglar used state data to get owners' home addresses from license plate records.

Amid a summer of choreographed campaign roll-outs for the governor’s office and Congress, a number of candidates are quietly preparing for next year’s legislative election, when the House DFL Caucus will look to defend its majority.

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.

When it comes to spending by Minnesota’s political parties, the state DFL has emerged as the No. 1 player in the 2012 battle for control of Legislature.

When the Legislature returned on Monday, it quickly became clear that lawmakers weren’t going to meet their own deadline. What follows is a series of vignettes from the past few days of action at the Capitol.

Delegates in the Lakeville-area House District 56B nominated city school board member Roz Peterson to run for the open seat.

Earlier this month, when GOP activists in Carver County gathered to pick their slate of delegates for the state party convention in May, supporters of Congressman Ron Paul’s long-shot presidential bid turned up in droves. And once all the votes were tallied, Paul backers had secured 30 out of 52 delegate slots.

Last Saturday GOP activists gathered in Burnsville to determine who would be the endorsed candidate in House District 56A. No incumbent is running for re-election in the district, which leans heavily Republican.

Republican activists in Lakeville gathered on Saturday to endorse a candidate for an open seat in House District 56B. But after four ballots neither of the challengers -- Terry McCall and Roz Peterson -- had reached the 60 percent threshold required for endorsement.