Talking Points: The Battle For The Legislature

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The controversial constitutional amendments on this year's ballot are the result of Republicans winning majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate in 2010.

The entire Minnesota legislature is up for election in November and both parties are hoping they will end up in control. For both parties and the state the stakes could not be higher.

If you ask most people who their state legislator is, they might not be able to tell you. But Minnesotans need only consider the Marriage and Voter ID amendments to realize how important control of the legislature is.

With Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton in office for two more years continued Republican control of the legislature would almost certainly lead to the kind of gridlock we saw during the 2011 government shutdown.

So it's not surprising Gov. Dayton is working hard to convince Minnesotans to elect Democrats to the Minnesota House and Senate.

The Governor appeared on WCCO Sunday Morning.

"Give us two years," he said. "I am up in 2014 so is the House, give us two years to show what we can do and show the progress we can make and make this a better state."

But Republicans are fighting to win in November, too. They are not taking their big 2010 wins for granted. Continued control of the legislature means Republicans could block any effort by Gov. Dayton to raise taxes and could stall Dayton's efforts to implement Federal Health Care Reform.

You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning every Sunday with Esme Murphy at 6 a.m. and again at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday.