For Dems, a new public enemy No. 1
By ALEX ISENSTADTPolitico.com
8/8/09
Ask Minnesota Democratic officials about Michele Bachmann, and they can barely contain their anger.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is outspoken, conservative, media-friendly — and for many in the Democratic Party, a new public enemy No. 1.
Now that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is out of office, there are few Republican officials in the country Democrats would rather unseat in 2010 than Bachmann, a two-term congresswoman with a habit of pushing the buttons of liberals on everything from ACORN to global warming to even whether President Barack Obama is, as she once asked, "anti-American."
"She's definitely somewhere up there," Bachmann chief of staff Michelle Martson said of where the Minnesota congresswoman sits on the Democratic campaign hit-list.
Bachmann has long been on the receiving end of pointed jabs on liberal blogs like Daily Kos, where one commenter wrote a few weeks back, "After having just returned from a trip to Minnesota, I shake my head that such a beautiful place would be represented by such an ugly individual as Bachmann."
(Read more here.)
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Equal reporting would state that the Minnesota Republican’s Public Enemy #1 is Secretary of State Mark Ritchie … and it’s Mark Ritchie that will help Congresswoman Bachmann retain her seat.
Ritchie has been identified as the principle enabler that resulted in Coleman’s “stolen election”. Facts aside, that’s what has been (and will be) portrayed. Ritchie will be on the 2010 ballot defending his Secretary of State position just as Bachmann defends her seat. Motivated Republicans will support Republican candidates … and that is a double-edge sword. When Ritchie won his statewide election by over 100,000 votes he was strongly defeated in Bachmann’s Sixth District.
It’s the make-up of the district that favors any Republican … even Congresswoman Bachmann ... and aiding Bachmann is the visible Independence Party candidate on the ballot so that voters do not have to select a Democrat. Although some believe that the Independence Party is a force, it is my opinion that they are just a convenient excuse so that voters do not have to take one of the two major parties’ nominees. In the 2008 election, Bachmann’s margin over the Democrat challenger was 12,031 … an easy victory aided by the 40,643 votes received by “Bob Anderson” of the Independence Party. Anderson is just some guy that put his name on the IP primary ballot since the Party had endorsed the Democrat challenger. In a typical election, the IP would get 14-20,000 votes. It is those additional 20,000 voters that couldn’t vote for Bachmann nor her Democratic challenger that actually decided the contest. In 2010, there will be “Bob Anderson” again. And again, he will help Bachmann to another victory.
In Minnesota, the 2010 election will be a referendum on Obama and his economic programs with the main election being the Governorship and the question being “Do want another Veto on the Democrat-controlled legislature or a Rubber Stamp?” This favors Bachmann and her appeal to the Ron Paul libertarians.
Tarryl Clark is facing a daunting task. The demographics are against her … and she will be easily labeled by the MCCL and NRA groups. Clark may have the Democrat Party experience but it’s Dr. Maureen Reed that would be a better challenger for Bachmann. Reed could hit the healthcare issues without being characterized as endorsing Federal Government takeover. The key is Anoka County … so the question for 2010 MN-06 election is “How will it play in Coon Rapids?”
Bachmann may be the Democrat’s Public Enemy #1 … but that should only be for national fundraising … it’s wasted money to spend it to defeat Bachmann. Like Steve King (R-IA) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Bachmann has loyalists that agree with her … just look at how many of her contributors are in her district. Bachmann will ride the coattails of “soon-to-be-Governor-elect” Marty Seifert and whomever the Secretary of State nominee is.
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