I've got a question for Minnesota DUers.....................

[socialist_n_TN]

Talk to me about Michelle Bachman. What the fuck is her district like that she can be elected? I'm seriously curious about this. She's so nutty that I'm not sure she could be elected even in any district in Tennessee, even the reddest ones. Are there ANY progressives in her area? Is there anybody running against her? Help me understand!!!!! :)

[Warpy]

1. I have a friend there

who says her district is suburban, north of St. Paul, and gerrymandered around a bunch of wingnut churches.

Still, it has to be dawning on all those wingnuts that the pretty church lady they elected to Congress to represent Jebus has gone totally bugfuck crazy.

My friend thinks she's going to get one more term. I've looked at rumblings within her district and I think she has a slim chance of being defeated.

[charlyvi]

2. Hard to believe the same state that elected Humphrey, Mondale, Franken

could spawn someone like Bachmann.

[Bjorn Against]

3. It is one of the most right-wing districts in the state...

Minnesota's politics are quite varied, there are some areas that are very right-wing and other areas that are very progressive. Bachmann's district has a lot of areas that are very right-wing, but there are some parts of it that do have a strong progressive community. Republicans almost always win the district but they are not invulnerable there, Bachmann is very divisive even in her own district and she could be beat if enough of an effort is made to defeat her. In her first election Patty Wetterling ran against her who is a very respectable woman but unfortunately she was not a very good campaigner and did not know too much about the big national issues aside from helping missing and abused children. Despite her poorly ran campaign Wetterling was very well respected so she was able to give Bachmann a run for her money, but unfortunately it was not enough to defeat her. The last election cycle she was up against Elwyn Tinklenberg and early on the DFL determined the district a lost cause, but near the end of the campaign Bachmann made some extremely dumb comments on national television and money started pouring into Tinklenberg's campaign from all across the nation. Because the money did not come until late in the campaign it was difficult for Tinklenberg to turn things around and he lost, but he did manage to make Bachmann break a sweat.

This year Tarryl Clark is running against Bachmann and she has already raised more money than any Congressional candidate in Minnesota history at this time in the election cycle. Bachmann has raised a lot of money as well however, so this is going to turn into one of the most expensive Congressional campaigns in the nation. Make no mistake about it though, Bachmann is beatable and the more people know about her the less they like her. She is no longer able to win the state senate district that originally elected her as a Minnesota State Senator because the people who know her best know that she is a nut and they stopped voting for her.

If Bachmann is not defeated at the ballot box she could likely lose her seat because Minnesota is in danger of losing a Congressional seat after the census results come in, because Democrats are likely to have the biggest say in the redistricting process and Bachmann actually told people not to fill out the census the conventional wisdom says that if a seat is eliminated it will be hers.

[Odin2005]

4. Her district is the most conservative part of the whole state.

The suburban-exurban areas NW of the Twin Cities seem to be quite conservative, no clue why. Perhaps the area has a lot of German-American Catholics, who tend to be conservative. The "wingnuts in Clearwater" are a common butt of liberal jokes, here.

[glinda]

6. The answer is in the Business Community and the money pouring in from the wealthiest whom she

has supported and protected. The trendy area for the wealthier has been in her area as well as she campaigned in Churches. She has strong support from extremely richer conservative individuals because she protects them. The St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce is a huge monster that gives support to her also.
From those that I have spoken to in the Business sector, it does not seem to matter if she is looney. The best hope to defeat her is to make sure that her opponent has tons of money as well as the media keep evaluating Bachmann's mental instability and insane statements.
Another thing that Bachmann is doing is presenting the false impression that MN is like her. MN. is extremely diverse and I have met very very few people like her.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Part of her district is white flight suburbs

the people who used to live in north Minneapolis and left in the 1960s when African-Americans began moving in.

(Now these same people are upset about the Liberians who live in Brooklyn Center. You should have seen the racist comments on the Strib website when the article about the decline of Brookdale mall came out. ("Who wants to go to Brooklyn Center and mingle with the diversity and maybe get shot?" was one of the mildest comments.)

[Bitwit1234]

5. If you go google, you will see that her district has been

gerrymander to include the totally republican areas. That's why she keeps getting elected. But since she urged her constitutions to not send back the census, and since they are taking the Stillwater Pen away from that area looks like, if she does win this one, it will be the last.

[glinda]

8. Great point. What are they doing with Stillwater?

[stevedeshazer]

9. Tarryl Clark

Google that.

[movonne]

10. I have been wondering the same thing....

[socialist_n_TN]

11. Thanks so much for all the input...................

The upper mid-west area I've always seen as a fairly progressive bastion of the country. And Minnesota itself with Humphrey and now Franken and even Klobichar (sp?) just doesn't seem the type of area that would elect someone as screwy as Bachmann dogcatcher, much less US House rep. I guess it just proves that there are wingnuts even in the most liberal of areas.