Mike McFadden, who hopes to challenge sitting Democrat Al Franken, hasn't cast a ballot in a primary for the last 20 years. Other GOP candidates for the seat, including Rep. Jim Abeler, Sen. Julianne Ortman and Chris Dahlberg have been involved in the process.

By a 14 - 7 margin, the Senate Finance Committee on Monday voted to send medical marijuana legislation to the Senate, where the controversial and suddenly fast-moving measure is now set to go to a floor vote on Tuesday.

The U pegs costs for this “virtual center” at about $9 million over the course of a decade.

Despite the presence of a popular incumbent who has trounced his last several challengers, Republicans have fielded a well-known candidate in the 7th Congressional District. To hear some of that area’s activists tell it, the first GOP entrant in that race might be the party’s best chance in years to oust DFL U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson.

Political and ideological opponents did not waste their chance to grab some of the spotlight from Tuesday's groundbreaking.

Notable among those who did not endorse Nguyen is Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, who has not ruled out running for the office.

The committee did approve proposals that would nearly double the amount dedicated to security resources for the Capitol Area Complex.

A committee responsible for recommending enhanced safety procedures at the Capitol is advocating a big increase in security spending, but remains deeply divided over the issue of firearms inside the Capitol.

Republican candidates and activists filed into the National Sports Center in Blaine on Saturday to participate in a preliminary straw poll of candidates in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races. Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson won the gubernatorial poll with 35 percent of the vote, and state Sen. Julianne Ortman won the U.S. Senate poll with 37 percent of the vote.

True story: Collin Peterson used to have a tough time getting elected to Congress. It took Peterson four tries before he finally defeated Republican incumbent Arlan Stangeland in 1990. Then Peterson faced back-to-back challenges from Republican Bernie Omann. In 1992 and 1994, Peterson held his seat, defeating Omann by a combined tally of fewer than 9,000 votes.