Washington Hotel, featured a return of many of the "old timers" who had attended the original 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and other founders of the postwar economic system.

The national media campaign called "November 2" and the constituent organizations helped voters find new ways to get involved in the elections.

[5] In 2008, Ritchie presided over the most publicly scrutinized recount in the history of the United States Senate, the election contest of Al Franken and Norm Coleman.

In 2007, Ritchie initially denied knowing how his campaign received a list of e-mail addresses of participants in a state-sponsored program.

[6][7] State Republican leaders, citing inconsistencies from him regarding his role in his campaign's procurement of the list, called on him to resign.

His term, succeeding a predecessor who was defeated in the 2010 midterm elections, ends when the organization holds its summer meeting in West Virginia.

[13][14] Some conservative commentators accused Ritchie of bias during the Senate recount, saying the fact that he accepted contributions and an endorsement from ACORN during his 2006 campaign compromised his integrity as secretary of state.

[15][16] Most Minnesotans were generally supportive of Ritchie,[17][18] the canvassing board,[19] and the way that election and recount were handled,[20] as shown by polls taken at the time[21][22][23] and statements from public figures, including Republicans such as Governor Tim Pawlenty and previous Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer.

Minnesota Statute 204D.15, [24] with lineage dating back to 1919, requires the secretary of state shall provide an "appropriate title" for constitutional amendments.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, fulfilling his statutorial responsibility, provided titles for the constitutional amendments: "Changes to in-person and absentee voting and voter registration; provisional ballots" and "Limiting the status of marriage to opposite sex couples."

On Monday, August 28, 2012, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of Republicans and retained the original titles of both ballot measures.