Good morning. You ain’t got time to read? Sure you do.

Former Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt is signing out. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports that Daudt will resign his seat in the state Legislature before the next session begins. In a news release Wednesday, Daudt said he will step down effective Feb. 11. Voters in House District 27B will select a new representative in a special election. A Republican who was first elected in 2010, Daudt quickly climbed the ranks of GOP leadership. Daudt served as speaker from 2015 until handing over the gavel to current DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman in 2019. Daudt was the youngest person in modern history to fill the role. He was replaced as House minority leader in 2022 by current GOP Leader Lisa Demuth. Daudt didn’t provide a reason for his departure. He has worked for a couple of years for a Virginia-based firm called Stateside Associates, which does lobbying and other government affairs work. A relatively new and still untested law put a squeeze on the dual roles of lawmakers who have outside jobs that closely intersect with government.

Minnesota’s budget outlook perked up a bit in the latest finance report. The Department of Minnesota Management and Budget says revenue ran a bit ahead of projections in the past two months. It was $70 million to the positive or about 1.4 percent. This economic update shows individual and corporate income taxes running strong while other categories were down a tad. Here’s another thing to watch: The report says the economic growth projections in the prior forecast were too bearish in the short-term, but too bullish in the long-term. Read the update here.

The universal school meals bill has already provided millions of extra breakfasts and lunches to students. Early data released by the Minnesota Department of Education shows 31 percent more students used the breakfast program than the same period a year before and 11 percent more were taking a hot lunch. That also adds to the state expense — $81 million more than expected in the current budget. While state lawmakers and leaders have applauded the program, the additional expenses will need to be worked out in the budget during the upcoming legislative session. Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Education Commissioner Willie Jett served up lunch to some excited elementary schoolers at Edgerton Elementary in Maplewood yesterday (One kid did mistake Ellie for the governor, but we aren’t seeing too many resemblances yet). Jett says more than tummies are being nourished: “This is one of those things about access and opportunity for kids — and taking care of a kid’s spirit."

A fresh round of federal campaign finance reports covering the past few months will start rolling in soon. Ahead of that upcoming filing deadline, Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips previewed his initial report as a presidential candidate, saying he had taken in money from 6,000 donors. He said he’s raised $1 million since joining the race in October. (President Joe Biden, whom Phillips is challenging for the party nomination, had $32 million banked as of Oct. 1.) The Phillips campaign hasn’t yet said how much it has spent nor how much personal money the candidate has put into his bid. The campaign told MPR’s Mark Zdechlik that the money raised has helped pay for TV ads in New Hampshire, which holds its primary in less than two weeks. A formal report to the Federal Election Commission will ultimately reveal the things we don’t know about the financial state of the Phillips campaign going into primary season.

Activity is growing more intense in the presidential race as Iowa’s kickoff voting approaches. Yesterday, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put his campaign on ice; he’s struggled to gain traction as a firm anti-Donald Trump candidate in the GOP field. In exiting, he admonished other candidates for treating the former president too softly. “Anyone who is unwilling to say (Trump) is unfit to be president of the United States,” Christie said, “is unfit themselves to be president of the United States.” Christie didn’t endorse nor did he have particularly kind assessments of the Republicans still in the hunt. 

The leaders among the remaining hopefuls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, participated in a one-on-one debate in Iowa . MPR’s Clay Masters was there and sends a brief dispatch (you can catch him on NPR today and tomorrow): “The battle for second place in the Iowa caucuses was on display in Des Moines last night as DeSantis and Nikki Haley took the debate stage at Drake University. The moderators from CNN questioned them on the economy and immigration, but the two spent more time accusing the other of lying and attacking one another. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump skipped the debate, opting for a FOX News town hall just a few miles away. The Iowa caucuses are Monday and the weather could be a factor in turnout. Much of Iowa saw 11 to 15 inches of snow this week with more in the forecast. The low temperature for Des Moines on caucus night is -20 degrees.”