The personal and political dynamics swirling around the DFL contest for secretary of state stretch back to 2008.

Simon's 2013 fundraising total was several times larger than both of his opposing candidates' total collections last year.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and former Attorney General Mike Hatch will host a fundraiser for Gov. Mark Dayton's re-election campaign at the Minneapolis Club. The cost of entry: $1,000 per person.

Jeff Hilger describes himself as first and foremost a horse guy. He owns a sprawling farm in Stillwater where he breeds thoroughbreds. He has also worked in the corporate world. One thing Hilger’s a bit low on is political experience.

A steady downpour didn’t keep Indian gambling workers from flocking outside the state Capitol in St. Paul last April. At least 1,500 people gathered outside on the building’s steps, some arriving by the busload from reservations hours away. Clad in raincoats and shielded by a canopy of umbrellas, workers thrust signs into the air that read, “Rural jobs count too” and “Don’t gamble with my job!”

With two weeks left until the end of the biennial budget cycle, the largest question facing the state is increasingly not whether the government will be forced to shut down July 1, but just how much will be shuttered when it does.

Ken Martin describes his reaction as “shocked” when he began going through the DFL Party’s finances after becoming state chairman in February. The most unnerving discovery: The party was roughly $700,000 in debt.

For those who followed his promises on the campaign trail, Gov. Mark Dayton's budget proposal held few surprises, save one. Candidate Dayton included a state-owned casino at the Mall of America or the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in his campaign budget. At the time, he said such a casino could produce up to $80 million for the state in the 2012-13 biennium.

New state Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Ken Peterson has hired three lawyers with experience in union and employment law as his top lieutenants to run the agency responsible for workers compensation and OSHA programs.

With his inauguration less than two weeks away, Gov.-elect Mark Dayton has announced two more state agency commissioners, and they are both familiar figures at the Capitol. Dave Frederickson will head the Department of Agriculture, and Ken Peterson has gotten the nod to lead the Department of Labor and Industry.