If misleading ads are one index of a hotly contested political race, then the battle for House District 11B is surely among the most vigorous in the state.

The short knives are out in the Republican Party. Former GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb harshly criticized 2010 gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer at Saturday's State Central Committee gathering. "I think Republicans nominated the one candidate who couldn't possibly win in 2010," Brodkorb told Minnesota Public Radio.

There is a lot of uncertainty about the 2012 legislative election season. Most significantly, nobody knows exactly what legislative districts will look like when the redistricting process — which is expected to drag on into February or March — is finally completed.

If you hear political activists calling for change in the 2012 state House and Senate elections, you won’t be faulted for thinking that the rhetoric must be coming from DFLers. After all, Democrats lost control of both chambers in a 2010 election that saw a conservative tide roll across Minnesota and the rest of the country.

When Republicans from around the state flocked to the Ramada Mall of America last Saturday, there appeared to be little question who would win the race to replace Brian Sullivan as Minnesota's man on the Republican National Committee.

On a Saturday afternoon in July, a dozen or so locals sat under a gazebo in Central Park in downtown North Branch. "Wanted: Karl Marx" posters were stapled to the gazebo, and a welcome sign and a waving Don't Tread on Me flag greeted members of the Old North Church Tea Party to what was billed as a candidate forum.

Rudy Takala, a 21-year-old Tea Party activist who recently lost a Republican primary battle in Pine County, is behind a new political action fund to support conservative lawmakers.

Mark Dayton rode a dominating performance in greater Minnesota to a narrow victory in Tuesday's DFL gubernatorial primary, edging party endorsee Margaret Anderson Kelliher by just over 6,500 votes out of over 440,000 cast. One-time House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, who spent over $5 million on his primary campaign, garnered just over 80,000 votes.

A scene from a recent Thursday night in east central Minnesota: Roughly 100 people are gathered in the basement of Tobies Restaurant & Bakery in Hinckley. The occasion is a fundraiser for Republican state House candidate Rudy Takala, a 21-year-old conservative firebrand who is seeking to oust two-term DFL Rep. Tim Faust.

Republicans are slated to squared off in a handful of competitive state legislative primary contests on August 10. In most instances, the GOP rivals are vying to take on a DFL incumbent in districts that look winnable.