Sawalich, who made an unsuccessful bid for the position in 2009, announced the news on his Twitter feed this morning.

Who wants to run the Republican Party of Minnesota? That’s the question that has been generating a steady stream of rumors and trial balloons since state party Chairman Tony Sutton suddenly resigned earlier this month.

Amid internal controversies over the Republican Party of Minnesota’s debt after state Chairman Tony Sutton’s resignation, party officers and insiders initially maintained that the state GOP was not legally required to pay the nearly $500,000 in legal fees racked up during the 2010 gubernatorial election recount.

At Saturday's gathering of the Republican Party's state central committee, Pat Anderson circulated two documents to delegates illuminating the party's current debt. The former state auditor and Republican National Committee member wanted party activists to have a clearer picture of the state GOP's financial obligations under chair Tony Sutton, who resigned on Friday.

On Wednesday one of the GOP attorneys on the recount, Tony Trimble, told PIM that then-RPM Chairman Sutton signed an agreement legally obliging the party to cover the full cost of the recount legal fees, reportedly around $450,000. And late Wednesday afternoon, Sutton confirmed the existence of an agreement that he says he does not recall disclosing to other party officials. But Sutton went on to claim that he believes the party is only responsible for the debt in the event that the recount fund in question, incorporated as Count Them All Properly Inc., ceases to exist.

In late November, a group of roughly two dozen Republican activists gathered at a residence in Edina to discuss the future of the state Republican Party. The meeting included a broad cross-section of the GOP’s notoriously fractious base.

In the five days since Tony Sutton resigned as chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, many names have been floated as potential replacements. But only one potential challenger -- GOP activist Sue Jeffers -- has stated that they're seriously considering seeking the post. Many others have ruled out a run for the cash-strapped party's top post.

The short knives are out in the Republican Party. Former GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb harshly criticized 2010 gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer at Saturday's State Central Committee gathering. "I think Republicans nominated the one candidate who couldn't possibly win in 2010," Brodkorb told Minnesota Public Radio.

Kelly Fenton won a five-candidate contest on Saturday to become the state Republican Party's new deputy chair.

On Saturday Republicans will gather in Bloomington for a meeting of the party’s State Central Committee. Among the agenda items for the roughly 350 delegates: electing a new deputy chair and approving the party’s 2012 budget.