Incoming Speaker of the House Paul Thissen and House Majority Leader Erin Murphy have filled out their list of top staffers an assistants to the new majority caucus.

Minnesota’s 2012 Democratic legislative campaigns started about two years ago. The exact date depends on who you ask.

For better or worse, Michael Brodkorb was back on the campaign trail last week. This time, however, the former GOP attack dog, deputy Republican Party chair and Senate communications guru who helped mastermind the 2010 GOP takeover of the chamber has materialized in a glossy pink and blue mailer that’s being used to attack Republicans.

Over the past decade, Senate District 47 — stretching around north metro area cities like Champlin, Coon Rapids and Brooklyn Park — has been a place where moderate Democrats could prosper despite the district’s slight GOP tilt.

The last two election cycles have witnessed wave elections for both parties that tilted the Minnesota House of Representatives in polar opposite directions.

It was supposed to be a show of electoral force, and it was: After filing for office en masse on Thursday morning, several dozen GOP lawmakers and candidates lined the back wall and spilled out the doors of a press room in the State Office Building.

The four partisan caucuses that make up the Minnesota Legislature raised millions of dollars for their campaigns in 2011.

Zach Rodvold, House DFL Director of Legislative and Caucus Services, will now be the campaign director for the caucus. Redistricting analyst Jaime Tincher will takover Rodvold's job in mid January.

The key staffers who have plotted the remaking of the Senate Republican Caucus in recent years will be running the show when they take the majority in January. Campaign guru Cullen Sheehan will continue as the caucus's chief of staff. Indefatigable GOP political operative and deputy state party chair Michael Brodkorb will continue in his role as communications director.

In the wake of losing the majority, the House DFL did some shuffling in naming its new leadership staff. Among the new faces are staffers from Tarryl Clark's campaign this year against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.