Judging by his behavior during the 2015 state legislative sessions, Gov. Mark Dayton fits comfortably into the series of unconventional Minnesota politicians.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s office set politicos and reporters abuzz this week with a late-arriving and mysterious addition to his daily schedule for Wednesday. The update said only that Dayton would be traveling out of state with Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben for a “meeting regarding a possible economic development opportunity for Minnesota.”

House and Senate bills feature little common ground.

Indian tribes have been a powerful force in Minnesota politics for nearly two decades, bankrolling major political party groups with hundreds of thousands of dollars for their campaigns. In 2011 they spread their money almost evenly between DFLers and Republicans.

Brad Rixmann likes to say he was dragged into politics “kicking and screaming.” Just five years ago, Rixmann, the founder and CEO of Pawn America had been at the Capitol only a few times as a child.

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!”

The compacts that regulate Indian-run gambling in the state never came up for a vote in the Minnesota Legislature. In fact, the whole affair happened rather quietly.

Former Iron Range state Sen. George Perpich last night was among the hosts at a fundraiser for DFL Congressional candidate Rick Nolan. Perpich is among a growing number of Iron Rangers supporting Nolan.

Elizabeth Mulay, whose accusations of sexual improprieties against GOP nominee Jon Grunseth upended the 1990 gubernatorial contest, has died from injuries sustained in a north Minneapolis house fire. Mulay and a friend were injured in a possible gas explosion on July 30.

Of the five judges selected by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea to oversee the state’s redistricting process, one is considered a “rising star” in the judicial world, another has ruled on a case that started a courtroom brawl, and yet another parlayed a tour guide job into a more than 20-year career as a corporate attorney. Together, the judges are widely considered a fair, well-equipped group to handle the contentious process of drawing the state’s political maps.