We're still in that feast or famine holiday stretch for political news, but Monday provided enough to chew on. We'll be back in 2020.

Will beer and wine come to Minnesota grocery stores in 2020? When Minnesota ended a yearslong debate in 2017 and allowed liquor stores to open on Sundays, many said it marked the end of an outdated relic of the Prohibition era. The same can be said of the state’s ban on the sale of wine and strong beer in grocery stores, said State Sen. Karin Housley, R-St. Mary’s Point, who has been working for four years on legislation to allow grocery stores to sell the products. “People want to go on when they’re buying their groceries and just be able to pick up their bottle of wine and check out right there at the same checkout, instead of going in the extra entrance or taking an extra trip someplace else. Forty-five other states allow for strong beer in grocery stores. It’s time to update our Prohibition-era laws to reflect 2019.” MPR News

Population is up, but congressional seat is still in peril. Minnesota’s population moved in a positive direction in U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Monday, a precursor to a pivotal 2020 head count that will determine if the state retains eight seats in the U.S. House. The estimates show Minnesota gained 33,383 people from July 2018 to July 2019, which is more than any of its neighbors and is among the strongest in the northern part of the country. State Demographer Susan Brower said the pace of growth in Minnesota had waned. In the past three years, the state topped 40,000 in estimated additions to the population. “We still are growing faster than many Midwestern states, Minnesota does OK for our corner of the U.S. but we are for 2019 slower than we were in 2017 and 2018,” she said. MPR News

FEC seeking info on Omar small-dollar donations. The Federal Election Commission has asked for more detail about thousands of donors to Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar who gave less than $200 each, a group of contributors who poured more than $800,000 into her re-election bid over a three month period. Agency staff sent a letter to the Minneapolis Democrat’s campaign in late November, seeking more information about the large share of cash from individuals giving $200 or less — the maximum allowed before triggering donor disclosure requirements — in her latest quarterly filing. Such contributions accounted for more than 75% of the $1.1 million Omar reported raising between July and September. Omar’s campaign responded to the agency in a letter sent last week, saying the committee is aware of the limits and “endeavors to fully comply” with the law. Star Tribune

Purging of Wisconsin voter rolls paused. The Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked Monday over whether to remove the voter registrations of more than 200,000 people in response to a judge's order. The commission's inability to reach a consensus means the voters will stay on the rolls for at least the time being. An appeal in the case is ongoing and the commission faces a separate lawsuit that is trying to make sure people are not pulled from the rolls. The three Republicans on the commission sought to take many of them off the rolls, but they were blocked by the three Democrats on the commission. It was the second time in as many weeks that the commission broke down along party lines over the lawsuit, which has drawn national attention because of Wisconsin’s top-tier status in the 2020 presidential race. Monday's commission meeting came as election officials provided new estimates that suggested a smaller number of voters than originally believed — about 144,000 — could be at risk of being taken off the rolls. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Klobuchar hits every corner of Iowa seeking caucus votes. To Amy Klobuchar, her just-completed tour of all 99 Iowa counties proves a point: As president, she would go everywhere and represent everyone, even in the heart of Trump country. That’s “part of my way of being,” the Minnesota senator told Iowans at a rural restaurant in Humboldt County — the final stop of her tour and a place that, like much of the lead-off caucus state, overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in 2016. “I believe that we need someone as president who’s going to be the president for not half of America but all of America.” Klobuchar is hoping to capitalize on caucus rules that can reward candidates who leave Democratic-heavy areas and large rallies to meet smaller groups in less populated counties. In those places, personal connections can be made over coffee or, as happened this month, over hot chocolate and convenience store breakfast pizza aboard Klobuchar’s campaign bus. The Associated Press