I claim not the tiniest portion of the scoop on this one, but in case you read it here first, Sullivan sent out an email unequivocally removing himself from the race, citing both family and business reasons. My former colleague Mark Brunswick has the text on my former blog, the Big Question.

Sullivan may have been the best-known name among the GOP mentionables for the seat, and would have had plenty of money. But many DFLers thought running against him would be great, because his hard-right profile would have been a tough sell in that moderate district. As my esteemed former Strib colleague Lori Sturdevant mentioned in her Sunday Op-Ex piece, citing recent polling in the Third District by former GOP state Chair Bill Morris, 60 percent of third districters consider themselves pro-choice on abortion and fewer than one in five approved of the state’s 2004 concealed carry gun law.

 The last Republican insider I talked to this morning (before the Sullivan announcement) said the names to watch for the GOP nomination included Hennepin Sheriff Rich Stanek, and state Sen. Geoff Michel of Edina. State Reps. Erik Paulson of Eden Prairie and Assistant Majority Leader Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove are mulling a bid, and some sure there others.