By Nathan Layne BLAINE, Minnesota (Reuters) -From the pulpit on Sunday, Father Joe Whalen exhorted his parishioners to avoid the kind of extreme partisanship and hate that appeared to be behind the killing of one of the church's own,

Even as the national political discourse has grown hyperpartisan in recent years, Minnesota had kept a foothold on its own traditions.

Police said the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses this past weekend appears to be politically motivated, and U.S. Capitol police said politically based threat investigations are up 400%.