In this era of partisan presidencies, what matters the most is how the party defines itself, not who becomes president.

Despite the positive findings, Obermueller, a former one-term state legislator from Eagan, still faces an uphill climb against Kline on several counts.

Republican candidates Jeff Johnson, a Hennepin County Commissioner, Orono businessman Scott Honour, state Sen. Dave Thompson and former House Speaker Kurt Zellers gathered in front of about 150 Republicans packed into the Mermaid Event Center in Mounds View Thursday night. While the candidates’ positions on issues rarely diverged significantly, each one spent the night testing out campaign slogans, themes and personal tidbits on the GOP crowd.

The Delano-based Republican's total came thanks to more than 300 individual donors, according to the statement .

Scott Honour is seeking the GOP nomination for governor in 2014. The businessman announced the decision through a campaign video that was posted on his web site Wednesday.

Democrats had an outstanding night on Tuesday. They won back control of the Minnesota House and Senate, picked up a congressional seat, and defeated two contentious amendments that most political observers expected to prevail.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, dropped into Minnesota during a multi-state campaign tour on the eve of the 2012 presidential election.

Clinton's visit follows poll numbers that show Mitt Romney gaining on President Barack Obama in Minnesota.

President Barack Obama holds an 8-point lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney among likely voters in Minnesota, according to poll results released on Friday by the St. Cloud State University Survey. When all poll respondents are included, Obama's lead grows to 13 percentage points.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, declared the winner Wednesday night by most pundits and snap polls by CNN and CBS, was shot down by several fact-checkers with comments harsh enough to tempt President Barack Obama’s ad-makers.