This is a year of political parties welcoming those it rejected before.
Four years ago, Republicans barred Republican Ron Paul from speaking at their convention. This year, he was the GOP convention featured speaker.
Two years ago, Mark Dayton, then running for governor forswearing the DFL party's endorsement process, was barred from the DFL convention floor.
This year, he was welcomed to the convention floor with a standing ovation, after praise from speaker after speaker.
"Thank you for letting me in this year," he told DFL delegates in Rochester.
He went on to talk about the need for higher taxes on the wealthy, better education policies and better health care. He said that will only happen if he gets a DFL -controlled Legislature. Dayton boasted of his 55 vetoes of Republican bills in much the way former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty bragged on his vetoes of DFL bills.
