Read this piece from MinnPost's Derek Wallbank on Republican CD3 Congressman Erik Paulsen. He contrasts Paulsen's style to current fellow MN house member Michelle Bachmann and his predecessor, Jim Ramstad.

A year and change into his first term in Congress, Paulsen has managed to pass more bills through the House (two) than the state's other two Republicans combined (zero bills, but one resolution apiece).

Along the way, Paulsen has managed to buttress his position from a vulnerable first-term congressman who got less than half of the vote in a district carried by President Obama in 2008, to a formidably ensconced incumbent with a prohibitive fundraising and cash advantage.

"I think he's made a conscientious effort to do things," said former Rep. Bill Frenzel, a Republican who held the 3rd District seat from 1971 to 1991 and is now a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "It takes a lot of work for a freshman in the opposition to do something, even if it's really popular."

In person, Paulsen is easily the quietest Minnesotan in the entire delegation. He speaks in relatively hushed tones such that it's sometimes hard to hear him in the Capitol's busy hallways.

Ask him about health reform and most politicians have a ready-made sound bite. Ask Paulsen, and you're in for a minutes-long dissertation on the deficit consequences of unfunded liabilities or hand-wringing over feared job cuts from a new $20 million tax on the medical device industry — big business in his district.

Read the rest here.