The scene was a new one for the governor, at least since the state entered a historic government shutdown two weeks ago. While Dayton made an additional offer to the GOP majorities and appeared at two St. Paul news conferences in the week after the July 1 shutdown, few have seen the state’s chief executive outside of the confines of the now-locked down state Capitol.

Freshman Republican Sen. Scott Newman has refused to meet with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), and will not sit down with any other group that supported his DFL opponent Hal Kimball during the election, according to DFL rural blogger Sally Jo Sorensen.

Sen. Steve Dille will probably not be bored when his 24 years at the Legislature officially come to an end next month. The first item on the 65-year-old Dassel Republican's post-Senate agenda is completing a biography of his grandfather.

Last Wednesday, just a day after new Republican legislative majorities unveiled their downsized committee structure, it rained gavels at the Capitol. Incoming caucus leaders Amy Koch and Kurt Zellers handed down a total of 40 chair appointments as a substantial contingent of the anointed stood beaming at their side.

While most Minnesota politicos are devoting their attention to the race for the governorship this year, a smaller power battle is brewing in the state Senate. Many who frequent the Capitol halls in St. Paul predict there will be a spirited race for head of the Senate GOP caucus after the general election, a spot that is looking more desirable to Republicans given boasts within the party that the GOP has a shot at taking the majority in the chamber.

State Sen. Jim Vickerman calls himself the most conservative Democrat in Minnesota, and he has a voting record to bolster that claim. The seven-term lawmaker has represented Senate District 22 with a light hand since 1986. The rural area has, with the exception of Vickerman, consistently voted Republican over the last decade.

As Minnesota’s Republican Party was giddily tweeting the news that the party had fielded candidates for all 201 seats in the state Legislature for the first time in 30 years, the Independence Party of Minnesota was quietly celebrating its own milestone: 16 candidates for the Legislature in 2010, seven in Senate districts and nine in House districts.

The door marked “exit” at the Minnesota state Capitol will get a workout at the end of the 2010 session, with 17 legislators (so far) announcing that they’re not seeking re-election in the fall.

The month of March witnessed several interesting endorsing conventions for state legislative seats. In many instances, the conventions sorted out who will carry their party’s banner in November. In other cases, the endorsed candidates are being challenged in a primary. Here’s a rundown of what occurred at some of the notable conventions from the month past.

Republicans are sensing blood in the water of more than a dozen state House and Senate districts, and they’re circling.