Tinklenberg earns Independence Party nod

Elwyn Tinklenberg secured the endorsement of the Independence Party at Saturday’s state convention in his bid to oust freshman Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann. No Independence Party candidate has won statewide or federal office since Jesse Ventura’s successful 1998 gubernatorial bid (running under what was then known as the Reform Party), but the backing could prove influential in a tight contest.

In 2006, Independence Party candidate John Binkowski secured 8 percent of the vote in the Sixth Congressional District race — almost exactly the margin by which Bachmann defeated Democratic rival Patty Wetterling. Four years earlier IP candidate Dan Becker was backed by 7 percent of voters over incumbent Rep. Mark Kennedy.

The IP — which enjoys major-party status and is therefore eligible for public funding — also endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Stephen Williams. The southern Minnesota farmer received four write-in votes in the 2006 House race won by Tim Walz.