If a Democrat-led coalition takes office, the PPP seems likely to make its life difficult and short-lived.

ECONOMIST: Heading for uncertainty

Gone is the old aristocracy, which lived off the labor of slaves to support its life of comfort.

FORBES: 150 Years After The Emancipation Proclamation, Are We Free?

For him, a good poem is the distillation of experience, and poetry comes into its own when life is being lived in extremis.

ECONOMIST: New American verse

"I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time, " said Olsen.

CNN: April 12, 2012 -- Updated 2054 GMT (0454 HKT)

For generations, Minnesotans lived out the progressive argument that high taxes and high services were what gave the state its fabled quality of life.

NPR: Do Tax Increases Kill Jobs? Minn. Soon To Find Out