Rep. Michele Bachmann’s comments that she believes Barack Obama “may have anti-American views” and that the media should investigate whether members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America” has done more than fill the coffers of her Democratic challenger, El Tinklenberg: it’s prompted a challenge for her congressional seat from within the GOP. The St. Cloud Times reports that Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., a professor of political psychology at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, registered yesterday as a write-in candidate. On his campaign site, Immelman references Bachmann’s words to Chris Matthews:

And, as if incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann’s enthusiastic support for these policies is not damaging enough, she now appears to be calling for a witch hunt to “find out [which members of Congress] are pro-America or anti-America.” We cannot tolerate this festering brand of neo-McCarthyism in our midst.

He sees himself as an “alternative for disillusioned Republicans.”

“The Republican Party needs to rebuild its image, and this cannot be done when its elected representatives say these kinds of things,” he told the St. Cloud Times’ Larry Schumacher.

While Immelman garnered only 14 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, his entry may shave off support from Bachmann, who last week lead DFLer Tinklenberg by just four points, according to a Democratic party poll.