Until now much of the coverage of the debate over gay marriage in the Minnesota Senate has focused on Sen. Michele Bachmann. But now one of Bachmann's GOP colleagues has announced he's gay. The Brainerd Dispatch has the story:

An emotional Sen. Paul Koering, prompted in part by last week's procedural vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, announced Wednesday he was gay.

The Fort Ripley Republican, who defeated then-Senate President Don Samuelson on the third try in 2002, said inquiries about his sexual preference were taking up an increasing amount of his time. The questions were starting to hamper his efforts to guide his teacher mentoring bill and other important legislation through the Senate. He said he wanted to put the issue to rest with an announcement.

"I've always felt like my personal life is just that -- personal," he said in an interview in the State Office Building. "I don't feel like I ever lied to anyone. I never deceived anyone."

Koering, 40, said on the rare occasion someone asked him if he was gay, he told them the truth. The first-term lawmaker said that although a certain number of people speculated he might be gay -- very few asked him directly.

The former dairy farmer, who drew headlines by using a wooden club to scare off two would-be robbers from his Brainerd liquor store in mid-February, said he planned to run for re-election to the District 12 Senate seat, even if he faces opposition from within the GOP.

"I'm going to run for re-election," Koering said. "I'm going to give it all I've got."

The Star Tribune has more details about how Koering's personal life might affect his vote on the proposed constitutional amendment:

Exactly where he stands now, and how he will vote in the future, is not clear. He supports letting voters decide, but said that any gay marriage ban should not interfere with "legal contracts that we have between people. I do support what's in statute [state law], and statute says marriage is between a man and a woman," Koering said. "I don't know that I have a right to deny people the right to vote on something, but I'm certainly going to be watching closely that the bill that comes forward is a bill that's fair to everybody."

He wouldn't say how he intends to vote as a citizen if the measure is on the 2006 ballot. "That's why there's curtains on the booth," Koering said.

The subtext to all this is a roiling behind the scenes debate on the gay marriage issue. A lot of it is happening in blogs. If you want to see what all the fuss is about start here.

While the marriage debate is going on the Legislature is still working on the budget. On Wednesday the House passed a unique two pronged budget resolution on a party line vote. MPR's Laura McCallum has details:

DFL leaders say [Republican House Speaker Steve] Sviggum is offering a false choice. Rep. Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, compared the options to a bad episode of the game show "Let's Make a Deal"

"Behind curtain number one is a real junker of a car. And behind curtain number two is a pig with lipstick on it," he said.

Sertich said the second option relies on illegal gambling. He and other Democrats cited a recent Attorney General's opinion that concluded [Gov. Tim] Pawlenty's casino plan would likely be found unconstitutional. They say even if the Legislature approved the plan, it would be tied up in the courts so long that any money from a new casino wouldn't be available for the next budget. DFL leaders also criticized the unusual two-tiered approach to the spending guidelines. But the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud, said having a contingency plan in a bill isn't unprecedented.

"We have had bills that said, if there's additional money available, it goes to tax cuts," he said.

...DFL Minority Leader Matt Entenza of St. Paul said his members have suggested other ways to fund state priorities without raising taxes.

"We offered three different amendments in the ways and means committee, using the cash flow account and other accounts to increase spending for education and health care, and they defeated those using parliamentary maneuvers."

Now that the spending guidelines are in place, House committees will release their budget bills in the coming days.

And the Star Tribune reports that supporters of MinnesotaCare are organizing to opposes Gov. Pawlenty's proposal to cut coverage for 27,000 people:

Minnesotans for Affordable Health Care has blown the dust off its old incorporation papers, reconvened a decade-old executive committee and resumed fundraising, organizers said.

On Wednesday, the coalition announced an advertising campaign to urge Minnesotans to lobby against Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed budget cuts to MinnesotaCare.

One of their key messages: MinnesotaCare is in good financial shape and shouldn't be raided to pay for other health-care programs.

"MinnesotaCare is not in crisis," said Dr. Don Jacobs, CEO of Hennepin Faculty Associates at a news conference in Minneapolis on Wednesday. "The intentional expansion of uninsured Minnesotans is poor health policy."

Pawlenty and House leaders have argued that changes are needed to head off public health-care costs.

So, let's review. The budget is coming up $200 million short. Thousands of people face the loss of health insurance. Schools across Minnesota say they need more money. And the big story of the day is...gay marriage.