Though legislators have already passed $443 million in tax cuts, they're still wrangling over the differences between two bills that would provide roughly $100 million in additional tax relief. The House has passed $323 in new spending, which must be meshed with a $210 million bill from the Senate.

The politeness that has prevailed in the early stages of the CD 6 GOP race may have come to an end this week, when candidate Phil Krinkie fired the first volley aimed directly at a fellow Republican: frontrunner Tom Emmer.

For his encore, Marty Seifert doesn’t want to talk as much about politics. The former Republican House minority leader launched his second bid for the governor’s office on Thursday, more than three years after activists denied him endorsement in the 2010 race. At kickoff events, he highlighted his work with the Avera Marshall Foundation and selling real estate in the years since that failed campaign.

At the GOP’s state central meeting in Blaine last Saturday Saturday, Johnson proved himself the most popular candidate among roughly 400 Republican Party activists in an early, nonbinding straw poll for the governor’s race. But Johnson’s appeal among activists has been building for years, most recently through his position as RNC committeeman and as one of the lead players in an audit of the party's post-Tony Sutton finances.

In the affidavit, former Bachmann chief of staff Andy Parrish said the congresswoman was aware of the arrangement to pay Sorenson, who was running her Iowa presidential campaign, but she did not know the payments violated the state Senate ethics rules.

Common Cause Executive Director Mike Dean said Wednesday that he has filed a complaint with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) arguing that the Republican Party, Sutton and several others created for-profit corporation Count Them All Properly (CTAP) to hide contributions directed to pay off bills related to the recount. Dean is asking OAH to find probable cause for the Ramsey County attorney to prosecute criminal charges.

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.

Near the close of a fractious two-day Republican Party of Minnesota state convention in St. Cloud, Jeff Johnson took the dais to address the elephant in the room: the tensions between supporters of Ron Paul and other activists and party regulars.

**UPDATED** The president of VOICES of Conservative Women wants an apology from the individuals behind a flyer suggesting that she supports Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

The race for Republican National Committeewoman at the state Republican Party convention this weekend is not exactly the most-watched political contest of the year.