Minnesota’s 2012 Democratic legislative campaigns started about two years ago. The exact date depends on who you ask.

State GOP chair Pat Shortridge sent out an email to donors last week imploring them to contribute additional money to the cash-strapped party. In the memo Shortridge details plans for roughly $380,000 in campaign spending, but notes that the party only has financial commitments for $115,000.

The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races.

No fewer than half a dozen major players have emerged among the ranks of pro-Republican business PACs in this election cycle. But while their 42-day pre-general election campaign finance reports are now available for all to see, they continue to play it close with respect to their big-picture plans.

Republican Senate candidate Brandon Anderson needed $800, and quick, in order to qualify for the public subsidy for legislative candidates. So he proposed that he and fellow GOP candidates swap donations to each other to help them all qualify -- a move that has attracted the attention of the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Political watchers waiting for a firm ruling on the months-long debate over whether the Republican Party of Minnesota is responsible for 2010 gubernatorial recount debt might still be seeking answers after a key campaign finance board meeting next week.

Lobbyist spending reports from this year’s legislative session have been unveiled by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD). But a word of caution is warranted in assessing the numbers: They don’t include lobbyists’ salaries.

A financial report released by the Republican Party of Minnesota on Monday found that there was no theft or illegal activity by former party officers but did point to a pattern of fiscal mismanagement that has left the party about $2 million in debt.

The complaint against Minnesota for Marriage says that group did not disclose the name of donors who contributed more than $100 to its efforts.

The four partisan caucuses that make up the Minnesota Legislature raised millions of dollars for their campaigns in 2011.