For most candidates getting past the primary election is merely the first electoral hurdle that must be surmounted prior to joining the Legislature. But for candidates in districts that tilt heavily in favor of either the DFL or GOP, the primary race can effectively serve as the only meaningful contest.

The catalyst for a landmark gambling deal cut between horseracing track Canterbury Park and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe was a minor bill that didn’t get a single hearing during the 2012 legislative session.

With momentum building to finish off the 2012 legislative session, the House and Senate spent hours on the floor last week debating bills.

There was little fanfare when not one but two racino bills surfaced in the Minnesota Legislature last week. The perennial proposal to install slot machines in racetracks usually enters into the political milieu with news conferences and headlines.

Nationally, the social networking site was the catalyst for the recent Anthony Weiner scandal and his ultimate resignation, after the seven-term Democratic congressman from New York accidentally tweeted a lewd image of himself he had meant to send as a direct message to a woman.

Last year I wrote about an exchange in the 2010 session between now retired Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud, and Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan. Haws sponsored legislation to allow students to transfer credits between MNSCU campuses; Buesgens was incensed that it took an act of the Legislature to do something so common-sensical.

On Monday the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce released its legislative scorecard for the first session since Republicans swept control of the Legislature in last year’s elections. Predictably enough, the ascendance of the GOP saw more of the statewide business group’s issues advance than in the past. In one sign of the times, this year’s scorecard tracked more bills supported than opposed by the chamber.

On Monday, yet another legal petition regarding the terms of a state government shutdown is expected to be filed in Ramsey County District Court, and this one makes a very simple case: In the event of a shutdown, priority funding should go to — no one. Nothing gets funded. Any such arrangement is illegal on its face according to the Minnesota Constitution.

The Minnesota Voters Alliance has launched a campaign to repeal the 2008 Legacy amendment, and the conservative groups has pulled on two House Republicans to help in the effort.

Republican Rep. Steve Drazkowski and others say they have accepted the $34 billion number. But in their eyes, this means that they have already “compromised” on the budget — even if it’s only with other Republicans.