The changing demographics and DFL-friendly voting record of Senate District 46 signaled an easy win for DFL Sen.-elect Chris Eaton in Tuesday’s special election.

Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District should be a battleground in 2012. That’s what the demographics say, at any rate. The Cook Partisan Voting Index ranks it “even” in terms of party edge.

In the wealthy swing districts of Minneapolis’ western suburbs, the gay marriage amendment that will appear on the 2012 ballot lands outside voters’ chief concerns of taxes, education and the overall health of the economy.

The state government finance bill may have been the last omnibus bill to pass in the recently concluded special session that ended the government shutdown, but in the eyes of Republican legislators, it certainly wasn’t the least. Although Republicans’ social policy proposals were rejected by Gov. Mark Dayton, the state government finance bill is loaded with GOP policy priorities for revamping the way state government operates.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce -- one of the most powerful lobbying groups of the 2011 session -- released its annual legislative scorecard this week, showing its highest ratings for Republicans in the state Senate.

With the entire state watching to see whether Rep. Morrie Lanning can pass a bill to fund a stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, one would assume he has little room on his legislative agenda for other matters.

In the wake of passing alternative teacher licensing earlier this year, Republicans have teed up more policy reforms to the K-12 education system in their omnibus school finance bill.

Republicans originally planned to make their first round of cuts stick. As introduced, their $1 billion budget cutting bill made permanent reductions to programs like local government aid (LGA), health and human services and higher education that had been temporarily cut as part of the state's 2010 budget agreement. But in the first House committee hearing on the proposal, an amendment brought by House Taxes Chairman Greg Davids changed the bill to make the $480 million-plus in LGA cuts a one-time reduction, reverting back to previous levels starting in fiscal year 2014.

Here's a refrain we haven't heard in a while: There's been good news in the last six months for the state's major pension plans.

Sen. Dave Thompson has long been a believer in the principle of local control. During his years as a conservative talk radio host, the freshman Republican legislator frequently espoused his belief in the capacity of local residents to solve their own problems.