House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out after the release of the 2012 legislative map last month. And with local endorsing conventions set to take place throughout March, incumbents and challengers alike have little time to make decisions about their political futures.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out following the release of new legislative maps.

In the first hours and days after the state’s new redistricting maps landed at the Capitol Tuesday, the collective sense of relief among Minnesota Democrats was unmistakable.

The most anticipated political event of the year at the Capitol — the unveiling of court-drawn state legislative and congressional districts that will be used for the next decade — arrived at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Iron Range Rep. Tom Anzelc is backing Rick Nolan for the DFL nomination in the Eighth Congressional District. Nolan is among four DFL challengers looking to take on freshman GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack.

In 1954, when Tom Anzelc was 8 years old, his family was kicked off their plot of land near Keewatin on the Iron Range. The parcel, along with 40 to 60 others, was confiscated for mineral exploration.

On its face, the vote taken recently by the state’s top constitutional officers to delay the granting of mineral rights leases on the Iron Range for six months was democracy in action: government bending to a public outcry and pledging to explore the issues raised.

Lawmakers from the Iron Range are fuming over a move by Republicans to use dedicated northern Minnesota economic development dollars to help solve the $5 billion budget deficit.

There is erosion on the horizon for the region's standing in the legislative balance of power; population declines have many predicting a loss of seats in the 2012 round of redistricting. Which makes it all the more ironic that the stars could be aligning for a 2011 Iron Range leadership sweep in the legislative and executive branches that some lawmakers find unpalatable.

Minnesota state Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam, has been served with a restraining order by an ex-girlfriend, who accuses the two-term lawmaker of stalking and harassing her after their relationship ended.