Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty tells reporters he's "not disappointed" for being passed over on the GOP presidential ticket. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney selected Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to be his running mate instead.

It's been 28 years since Cheeseland was a red state on the presidential map. But Mitt Romney is optimistic Republicans can carry Wisconsin in November, particularly with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan on the ticket. Wisconsin joins eight other battlegrounds where Romney is running state-specific ads.

GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan rallied 6,500 people at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International AIrport on Sunday, trying to steal a Minnesota win for the Romney-Ryan ticket from Democrats, who have long said the state was safe for President Obama. Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton is expected back in Minnesota Sunday night for an appearance in St. Cloud.

Republican Mitt Romney will begin running TV ads in Minnesota this weekend, with just over a week to go before the election, the Associated Press reports. Recent polls showed President Barack Obama with a solid lead in the state that has not voted for a Republican president since Richard Nixon in 1972.

Mitt Romney has halved President Barack Obama's lead in Minnesota, further evidence that the presumptive Republican nominee is outperforming expectations in the Upper Midwest. The president now leads Romney 46 to 40 percent, The Hill reports.

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll among 800 likely Minnesota voters shows the presidential race for the state's 10 electoral votes is getting closer, with President Barack Obama drawing 47 percent to Romney's 44 percent. With just over a week before the election, the president's 3-point lead is within the poll's margin of error. In September, Obama held an 8-percentage point lead over his Republican challenger in the Minnesota Poll.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told supporters at a Fargo machine shop that regulations favored by President Obama will hurt North Dakota's booming oil business. North Dakota's caucuses are part of next week's Super Tuesday.

The Boston Globe earlier quoted anonymous sources suggesting Michele Bachmann might soon endorse her former rival, Mitt Romney. But Bachmann's team said the report is "completely false" and asked the paper retract the article. Romney is making a campaign stop in the Twin Cities on Wednesday.