State Party Chairman Tony Sutton says the financial burden is due to Republican's calculated gamble in the 2010 elections. The state GOP spent heavily on campaigning and won the state Legislature for the first time in a generation.

Chris Fields, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison's Republican challenger for Congress in Minnesota's 5th District, is being sued fundraising consultant who claims he owes her money for work on his campaign. Attorneys for Erika Roland allege in the suit filed in Hennepin County District Court that Fields did not fulfill provisions of a contract he had with Roland.

Six years after backing U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Republican opponent in the U.S. Senate race, the Minnesota Farm Bureau has had a change of heart. Klobuchar's campaign announced Friday that the GOP-leaning group has endorsed her for re-election.

The Legislature last year passed a law requiring the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname. The state Attorney General believes the law is unconstitutional. Now the Board of Higher Education has voted to challenge it with a lawsuit.

Officials say the president plans to formally announce that states seeking to drop parts of the law can apply for waivers. Cassellius submitted Minnesota's waiver request last month.

State Rep. Kurt Bills is the Minnesota Republican Party's pick to face U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the November election. The first-term Republican nabbed the endorsement to challenge the Democratic incumbent after two ballots at the Minnesota GOP Convention Friday in St. Cloud.