Clark confident she can tap resources to take on Bachmann
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 at 4:45 pm
- 5 Comments
Photo: Laura Markwardt, Flickr
No politician has been subject to more speculation about her plans for the 2010 campaign cycle than state Sen. Tarryl Clark. While seemingly every prominent Democrat in the state lined up to announce they were mulling a bid for the governor’s office, Clark remained mum. When political chatter turned to the 6th Congressional District contest, the Senate’s assistant majority leader neither confirmed nor denied that she was eyeing a run to unseat U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. Clark enjoyed two months of having her name bandied about on blogs and political websites, while largely keeping her mouth shut.
But last week, the game of political peekaboo came to a close when Clark filed papers establishing a campaign committee and then announced her entry into the 6th district race via an online video. On Tuesday, her fledgling campaign received a significant bump when Elwyn Tinklenberg announced that he was dropping out of the congressional contest.
“I’m sure that it was a tough decision for him,” Clark told MnIndy via cell phone after a visit to Farmfest. “We’ve been united in the desire to make sure that real representation is available for the people of the 6th district. I worked with him in the last race. I hope when he has some time he’ll be willing to come and work with me.”
Tinklenberg did not endorse either of the remaining challengers when he ended his campaign. Clark vows to abide by the DFL endorsement, a stance that will likely endear her to the party faithful. Maureen Reed, currently her only rival for party backing, has not made such a vow. Despite the intra-party battle, Clark says she intends to emphasize Bachmann’s divisive rhetoric and lack of attention to issues of importance to district’s residents.
“What I keep hearing from people is they’re worried about their jobs, they’re worried about losing their house, they’re worried about escalating health-care costs,” she said. “Those are the issues that aren’t just being addressed right now by our current representation.”
Tinklenberg’s decision to drop out of the race was partly driven by a difficult fund-raising climate. Reed, by contrast, raised an impressive $230,000 in the two months after announcing her campaign. With 49 Democrats across the country running for re-election in districts that John McCain carried during the 2008 presidential campaign, most of the emphasis will undoubtedly be on protecting currently held seats. But Clark believes she will be able to raise enough money to run a credible, effective campaign against Bachmann.
“Certainly with so many people running for governor and other things, that can be challenging,” she said. “But what I’m finding so far is that people are so excited about the possibility of having someone who will focus on creating positive solutions instead of creating controversy that they’re willing to stand up and help.”
5 Comments
Comment posted August 4, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
“Clark vows to abide by the DFL endorsement, a stance that will likely endear her to the party faithful. Maureen Reed, currently her only rival for party backing, has not made such a vow.”
That’s really the crux. The worst-case scenario for Sen. Tarryl Clark, if she wins the DFL endorsement next spring, is that Dr. Reed files as an Independence Party candidate. That would leave Sen. Clark with no viable route to defeating Rep. Michele Bachmann in a district with barely 33% Democratic party identification.
To illustrate the tough odds Sen. Clark faces in this race, the only Democrat ever for any office to outperform a Republican in the 6th Congressional District is U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. In 2006, Sen Klobuchar outperformed 6th District incumbent Rep. Mark Kennedy by a 4.8-point margin in his Senate bid, 50.5 percent to 45.7 percent, with 3.2 percent of the 6th District vote going to IP candidate Robert Fitzgerald.
I think Sen. Clark has the political skill to mobilize the Democratic base and the personal charisma for broader appeal, though 6th District demographics impose severe structural constraints on the appeal of any Democratic candidate.
But two questions remain: (1) Will Maureen Reed stay in the race and (2) if so, will she mount a primary challenge for the nomination if she does not win the DFL endorsement or will she run on the Independence Party ticket?
If the 6th District contest becomes a three-way race, Bachmann is virtually assured of victory.
More detailed analysis:
http://www.immelman.us/news/can-a-democrat-beat-bachmann/
Comment posted August 4, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
Aubrey:
Interesting analysis but I can’t imagine any scenario where Dr. Reed files as the IP candidate. Follow the money. The people and groups who have given her over 200k have done so with the expectation she is a Democrat.
Don’t forget that this still could become a three way race with Bob Anderson on the IP ticket. For a centrist that leans right that would make the race far more unpredictable.
Comment posted August 5, 2009 @ 12:54 am
Why would Reed run on the Indy ticket? Her goal is to oust Bachmann. She’s working very hard to get the endorsement and we still have quite a ways to go before the caucus.
Reed is running as a Democrat and hopefully we’ll see her get the nod. She’s said many times “Plan A is to get the nomination. But we do have a back up plan, Plan B is to make plan A work. There is no other plan” I’m kinda paraphrasing, but basically she’s in it for the DFL nomination.
Comment posted August 7, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Neither Ms. Clark nor Dr. Reed are supporting the single payer option for health care reform. This is a big time issue for me and unless they change their stance, I will again vote the Green Party.
No money and no support to the Democrats until they state catagorically in a public forum that they support single payer programs.
People, they both need to hear this from every one of us. Scream it loud and clear…”Want to defeat Bachman? Then get on board and do not weasel out of your responsibilities to bring this basic right to all in this country.”
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