After months of negotiations between Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders on a Minnesota Vikings stadium plan, GOP legislative leaders upended the debate on Tuesday by unveiling a new proposal that relies entirely on general obligation bonds to cover the state’s portion of the project.

When the Legislature returned on Monday, it quickly became clear that lawmakers weren’t going to meet their own deadline. What follows is a series of vignettes from the past few days of action at the Capitol.

After appearing to reject GOP leadership's new plan for a new roofless Vikings stadium and dismissing it as a smoking gun and distraction, Gov. Mark Dayton and DFL leaders now say the proposal is “absolutely” worth considering.

Gov. Mark Dayton says GOP leader’s new plan for a roofless stadium partially paid for with bonding dollars is a “hare-brained” scheme that essentially destroys the stadiums chances of survival this session.

The swift pace at which the Minnesota Vikings stadium bill advanced through the House and Senate this week amounted to nothing short of a legislative resurrection.

It was one of those votes no one wanted to take. The state’s new maps dropped DFL senators and allies John Marty and Mary Jo McGuire into Senate District 66, forcing activists in the area to pick between them at a recent endorsing convention.

When the state’s redistricting maps were dropped in February, McFarlane, a three-term House member from White Bear Lake, found herself in the same district Dean, the second most powerful member in the chamber. McFarlane lost the endorsement to Dean in one ballot at the district's endorsing convention two weekends ago.

House Majority Leader Matt Dean on Saturday won an endorsement competition against fellow GOP Rep. Carol McFarlane. The new redistricting maps drawn by a panel of judges paired the two incumbents into the newly drawn House District 38B in the suburbs north of St. Paul.

On Saturday Reps. Glenn Gruenhagen and Ron Shimanski squared off in Hutchinson for the GOP endorsement in House District 18B. On the second ballot Gruenhagen pulled within half a percentage point of crossing the 60 percent threshold required for endorsement.

At least three incumbent Republican legislators appear to be facing serious challenges for party endorsement.