Yankee Republicans on last legs

[Ban my account ffs!]

Minnesota house:  85 (D)  49 (R)
Minnesota Senate: 44 (D)  23 (R)

Republicans hold one statewide office:  The governorship which they squeaked out with a 1% margin of victory.

The northern part of the state, which media outlets had orgasms every couple weeks reporting that the area was turning purple after decades of DFL domination has been definitively squelched.  The north went overwhelmingly for DFL Gub. candidate Mike Hatch, and not one Republican represents the northern 3rd of the state, with the exception of Larry Howes, who eeked out 5 point victory over a candidate no one had ever heard of (a teacher that just retired).

The Minnesota Republican party has never been very conservative, especially on fiscal issues or social issues, for that matter.  While you've had Michele "I'm subservient to my husband" Bachmann and a few others like her, it was Republicans that introduced the Department of Human Rights in Minnesota, consolidated our school funding to the state level, expanded MinnesotaCare (state healthcare for the working poor)... and now are seeking universal coverage for children (Tim Pawlenty).

Minnesota, historically, has been more liberal than Massachusetts.  We basically had a socialist party dominate the state during the '30s and it merged with the democrats, which has dominated the state since...

We're populist at heart.  You can't call 2002 and 2004 as Minnesota going purple (in 2004, Republicans lost 16 seats in the state house and like 2 or 3 in the senate) when they were largely the results of a terrorist attack on the nation.  I'm sure the 1942 and 1944 elections were not typical of trends in the state either.

And yes, we are a yankee state, so it is relavent.