Kelly Fenton brought two distinct abilities to the table in Ted Lillie’s 2010 successful state senate campaign against incumbent DFLer Kathy Saltzman — a connection to the Woodbury community and the ability to craft a winning message, he said.

Fenton announced Friday morning that she had registered to run for the House District 53B seat with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. That seat is currently held by GOP Rep. Andrea Kieffer, who recently announced she would not seek re-election in 2014.

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.

Democrats had an outstanding night on Tuesday. They won back control of the Minnesota House and Senate, picked up a congressional seat, and defeated two contentious amendments that most political observers expected to prevail.

Karin Housley’s route into Minnesota politics has been anything but typical. In 2010, the real estate agent and wife of NHL hall of famer Phil Housley ran a close race against incumbent DFL Sen. Katie Sieben in Senate District 57, losing by only 606 votes.

The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races.

On Tuesday afternoon, officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers union met at the DFL headquarters in St. Paul with Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk and House Minority Leader Paul Thissen.

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.

The Senate District 49 race has resulted in the largest haul so far with more than $100,000 in political contributions. Campaign finance reports have revealed this and a lot more, including some notable financial mismatches as well as challengers bringing in more than incumbents.

Ted Lillie, Erin Murphy and Kurt Daudt.