The Daily Digest
Minnesota's local elections pretty much held true to form on Tuesday night.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak overwhelmingly won among a crowded field. He is mum on whether he intends to run for governor. MPR and the Star Tribune have stories.
Instant Runoff Voting forces folks to wait a little longer for results but is successful. Some voters didn't rank their choices. MPR, the Pi Press and the Star Tribune have stories.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman won by a two to one margin in St. Paul. MPR, the Pi Press and the Star Tribune have stories.
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St. Paul voters also backed Instant Runoff Voting vote in St. Paul.
More than half of the school funding questions passed last night. You can find the results here.
Nationally
The biggest surprise of the night is that a Democrat won New York 23. That was the congressional seat where conservatives turned on the GOP backed candidate.
The GOP won governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia.
The Republican victories deal a blow to President Obama.
A majority of those polled in NJ and VA, however, say Obama was not a factor in their decision on Tuesday.
The Hill said Democrats are headed for big losses in 2010 if the economy doesn't turn around.
Pawlenty for Prez Watch
Gov. Pawlenty holds a major fundraiser for his PAC in Minneapolis tonight. He gets a little Hollywood help.
Pawlenty said last night's elections were a referendum on Obama.
Pawlenty was 2 for 3 last night. His PAC sent out congratulatory e-mail on the wins in VA and NJ. It was silent on NY23.
GOP Olympia Snowe said Pawlenty should follow her approach to governing. She made the comments after Pawlenty couldn't say a positive thing about her on MSNBC. The spokesman for his PAC didn't offer the warmest of embraces either (h/t Star Tribune):
"Governor Pawlenty has a lot of respect for Senator Snowe, and believes in the Ronald Reagan rule that my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy. As the Governor said this morning, he is glad Republicans -- not Democrats -- represent Maine in the U.S. Senate."
Congress
DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar taps a magistrate for the federal bench.
DFL Sen. Al Franken gave his first floor speech on health care.
GOP Rep. John Kline opposes changes in the way union representation elections are held.
GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen doesn't want Guantanamo Bay detainees to get H1N1 shots before law abiding citizens.
Politifact says a statement by GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann has her "pants on fire" on one of her statements.
DFL Rep. Collin Peterson and MA Rep. Barney Frank are close on a deal to merge bills that makes changes to the financial services industry.
Obama named state Sen. Dick Cohen to the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities.
Under the Dome
Three state senators will introduce legislation to move up the state's primary.
Finally
We linked to a new site, Discover Politics, yesterday. MinnPost says the person who is running it was a staffer for former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman.