In her push to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota, Rep. Carly Melin expected there would be tough negotiations and, inevitably, some compromise on the fine points of the proposal.

One month ago, the story of who would run against DFL Rep. Ron Erhardt on the Republican side of the ticket looked like it would be a familiar one, in which the runner-up from the last cycle takes a second crack at it and the field is cleared for her. But the House District 49A GOP endorsement contest isn’t playing out that way.

With big piles of money and high stakes, candidates for governor, Congress and the U.S. Senate have so far absorbed most of the attention when it comes to fundraising. But they aren’t the only politicos who turned in fundraising disclosures in January after clamoring for donations in 2013.

Less than a week after the DFL convention failed to endorse a candidate in the Minneapolis mayoral contest, there is one less contender. Gary Schiff dropped out of the race on Wednesday and backed fellow Minneapolis City Council member Betsy Hodges.

The Service Employees International Union announced on Thursday that it is backing Betsy Hodges in the Minneapolis mayoral contest. The two-term city council member is seeking to replace R.T. Rybak, who is not running for a fourth term.