Minnesota: Ellison, Tammy Lee, Hutchinson and independents oh my!

Pawlenty swims against anti-GOP tide to gain 2nd term, by BRIAN BAKST, Associated Press Pioneer Press:
...Hutchinson didn't do as well as the Independence Party candidate of four years ago, but his 6 percent was a possible difference maker. Exit polling suggested that Hutchinson's strongest support came from young voters in the Twin Cities, home to a sprawling University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis and several small liberal arts colleges in the St. Paul. It's also a base of DFL voters....

Ellison breaks ground as Muslim, black, BY ARON KAHN Pioneer Press:
Keith Ellison was a minor figure as a two-term state representative from Minneapolis. Now, across the nation and the world, he might become Minnesota's best-known voice. The 43-year-old fiery stump speaker, an easy winner Tuesday in the 5th Congressional District, becomes Minnesota's first black congressman and America's first Muslim on Capitol Hill. As a result, he dons the mantle of ambassador to the world's second largest religion. With 91 percent of the vote counted, the Democratic candidate and champion of liberal issues garnered 56 percent of the vote. Republican Alan Fine and Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee were tied at 21 percent, and seat-of-the-pants campaigner Jay Pond, a Green Party candidate who rode his bicycle to campaign stops, was polling 2 percent....