Republican David Gaither likes to compare himself to a Biblical character by the same name. That’s because he and his supporters view his Democratic opponent Terri Bonoff as something of a Goliath.

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.

The tightly contested Senate District 33 GOP primary contest between state Rep. Connie Doepke and David Osmek was an expensive affair. Osmek prevailed by just 107 votes in the race to replace retiring Sen. Gen Olson in a solidly GOP district.

In the 2010 election cycle the Freedom Club State PAC spent just over $220,000 on political expenditures. But the conservative independent expenditure group is apparently taking a different tack so far in 2012.

A handful of August primary elections are heating up across the state thanks to the new redistricting map, an uptick in legislative retirements and widespread dissatisfaction with the job lawmakers are doing in St. Paul.

State Reps. Connie Doepke and Steve Smith feel the wrath of GOP grass roots, may head to primary.

GOP state Reps. Connie Doepke and Steve Smith lost endorsement contests Wednesday night in Senate District 33.

The perennial bill to install slots in the state’s two racetracks was yanked from its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee amid fear that the committee’s conservative members would kill it early in the session.

In recent weeks, local party activists around Minnesota have commandeered many a school auditorium to endorse candidates for state House and Senate races.

Members of the 88th Minnesota Senate sworn in next January will have roughly 40 percent fewer years of cumulative service than the Senate that gaveled out in May 2010.