AM.MN: ‘Independent Republican’ Brown is new Eugene McCarthy

Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate election is making some old Minnesota political names new again. Brown calls himself an “Independent Republican” — the same name Minnesota’s GOP used for 20 years after Watergate. And Brown upending President Obama’s game plan is being seen on Fox News and Townhall.com as a replay of U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy beating shocking President Johnson in the 1968 New Hampshire primary.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Tim Pawlenty calls Brown’s win a “cannon shot.” Democrats “foolishly overplayed their hand,” said Minnesota’s governor, following a home-state fundraiser for his political action committee, Freedom First, which helped Brown. [YouTube; Polinaut]

EAGAN: Joe Repya announces guv run. He’s a Republican-turned-Independence Party guy who knows lawn signs. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

STATE CAPITOL: Mark Dayton announces guv run. That’s less of a shocker than Repya’s move, but the Democrat also says he’ll skip the party’s straw poll and endorsement contests for a straight shot at the August primary. [Hot Dish Politics]

STATEWIDE: Pawlenty floats plan for new drunk-driving penalties. As when he took TVs from sex offenders last fall, the governor’s action comes two days after a Star Tribune story on the topic. [Associated Press]

TWIN CITIES: As the superintendents turn. Minneapolis picks its next one, Osseo hears it’ll lose one, and the new one in St. Paul dispatches three deputies. [Minnesota Public Radio; Star Tribune]

PRAIRIE ISLAND: D’oh! Radioactive tools go missing from nuclear power plant. [Minnesota Public Radio]