He's worked to bring the party back from financial disaster, eviction from their headquarters and a credibility crisis to a place where they can think about scoring some wins.

Kelly Fenton brought two distinct abilities to the table in Ted Lillie’s 2010 successful state senate campaign against incumbent DFLer Kathy Saltzman — a connection to the Woodbury community and the ability to craft a winning message, he said.

Fenton, of Woodbury, said Monday that her last day as deputy chair will be Jan. 1. She is running for the House District 53B seat next fall after incumbent GOP Rep. Andrea Kieffer announced she would not seek re-election. Fenton initially said she would continue as deputy chairwoman during her run for the House.

At the GOP’s state central meeting in Blaine last Saturday Saturday, Johnson proved himself the most popular candidate among roughly 400 Republican Party activists in an early, nonbinding straw poll for the governor’s race. But Johnson’s appeal among activists has been building for years, most recently through his position as RNC committeeman and as one of the lead players in an audit of the party's post-Tony Sutton finances.

Sitting in his St. Paul office overlooking the Minnesota state Capitol, Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Keith Downey says there was a point in his life when, in his “wildest dreams,” he never would have imagined sitting at the helm of a state political party.

Republicans have traditionally opposed Minnesota’s political contribution refund program, which was reinstated on Monday when the state’s new biennial budget took effect. In fact, it was GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty who successfully proposed scrapping the program four years ago. But despite their dislike for state-subsidized political contributions, Republican candidates and party units disproportionately benefited from the program during the two decades that it was in place.

The wounds had started to heal by the time Minnesota Republicans faced each other at an annual activist gathering in Blaine over the weekend. Many Republicans had already come to terms with the drubbing that took place on Nov. 6, when both Republican legislative majorities and two GOP-led constitutional amendments were rejected by voters.

A panel of three Minnesota administrative law judges has denied the Republican Party's motion to dismiss a case brought by the government watchdog group Common Cause over the handling of the 2010 gubernatorial recount.

Michael Brodkorb announced on Monday the creation of politics.mn, an "inside view on Minnesota politics." The site will be written by Brodkorb, who is currently suing the state Senate for "gender discrimination" after his December 2011 firing.

Common Cause Executive Director Mike Dean said Wednesday that he has filed a complaint with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) arguing that the Republican Party, Sutton and several others created for-profit corporation Count Them All Properly (CTAP) to hide contributions directed to pay off bills related to the recount. Dean is asking OAH to find probable cause for the Ramsey County attorney to prosecute criminal charges.