Just weeks after the party swept both chambers in last fall's historic election, then-House Speaker-elect Kurt Zellers and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch took the podium at a press conference to announce the first-ever full slate of Republican committee chairs. Only one legislator - Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, the incoming chairwoman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee - joined the two leaders in front of the press to speak.

With less than a month to go before the Legislature is constitutionally required to adjourn, the GOP-controlled House and Senate find themselves fundamentally at odds with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton on the role of new tax revenues in fixing the state's $5 billion deficit. Dayton is pushing for about $2.5 billion in tax increases to help close the budget deficit, while Republicans are continuing to espouse an all-cuts budget.

Though there is still a month left, DFLers and Republicans in the Legislature are showing no signs of moving toward a compromise budget deal to close the projected $5 billion general fund deficit by the constitutionally required May 23 adjournment date. Around the halls of the Capitol, it is increasingly an article of faith that there will be no deal by then.

Bush, who was governor of Florida from 1999 until 2007, focused heavily on public school education reform during his time in office, namely using a test (the FCAT) to grade schools and determine funding. The test also will now be used in decisions about teacher pay and retention.

When Republicans from around the state flocked to the Ramada Mall of America last Saturday, there appeared to be little question who would win the race to replace Brian Sullivan as Minnesota's man on the Republican National Committee.

House Speaker Kurt Zellers has sent a letter to Gov. Mark Dayton to reiterate the House's position in the continuing disagreement on the role of fiscal notes in the budget process.

Minnesota has traditionally enjoyed high marks from the three primary credit rating agencies - Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. Starting in 1997, all three firms gave the state their highest Aaa rating. But in 2003 Moody's downgraded Minnesota's bond rating to Aa1, citing concerns about balancing the state's books through volatile, short-term fixes. The assessments of the three firms have remained fixed ever since.

Gov. Mark Dayton's top two finance officials sent a letter to Republican leadership in the Legislature Monday saying their budget proposals fall short of balancing the $5 billion budget deficit. But GOP leaders say Dayton's February budget proposal is the version that doesn't add up.

In their efforts to assemble and pass an all-cuts budget, Republican legislative leaders have found themselves engaged in a session-long game of whack-a-mole within their own caucuses. Pockets of discord continue to surface periodically within Republican legislative ranks, compelling the leadership to defuse tensions. Now, however, the pressures are coming from the caucuses' right flank.

So far in 2011, calls by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and labor unions for a large bonding bill have fallen on deaf ears at the GOP-controlled Legislature.