In Florida on Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Palm Beach Post that she’s been traveling the country to gauge national support if she decides to run for president and that she’s gotten a “fantastic reception” from activists in Iowa and South Carolina. Political prognosticators have also started to pay attention to Bachmann as a potential contender for the 2012 Republican nomination.

Bachmann told the post Post that she’s consulting with her family and that she’s testing the waters “because there’s no sense in running if I wouldn’t have the support of the people.”

She said the presidential campaign can get in the way of the conservative narrative. “This is what my worry has been, that we would spend two years playing the parlor game, indulging ourselves in the parlor game of who will be our nominee, and meanwhile we lose the narrative,” Bachmann said.

On Meet the Press on Sunday, Bachmann hammered home her own narrative: that $105 billion in secret spending she says was hidden by President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Affordable Care Act.

In four instances during that interview Bachmann refused to answer questions and instead repeated that claim, mentioning it eight times in 12 minutes.

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David Gregory ended the interview by asking, “When will you decide about a run for the presidency?”

Bachmann responded, “I think there’s a normal course of events when a decision like that will be made, and, and if I choose to go down that road, I’ll make the decision.”

When and if that decision is made, it could hurt former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s chances, notes Stu Rothenberg.

But Bachmann, a three-term Congresswoman whose support on the political right and among social conservatives rivals former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s, remains a potential problem for Pawlenty.

Although the two Minnesota Republicans don’t necessarily appeal to the same people, Bachmann’s presence in the Republican contest would undoubtedly draw some Minnesota money and support that would otherwise go to Pawlenty, even if only because he was the “local” guy in the race.

After all, Bachmann represents the most Republican district in the Gopher State. President George W. Bush won her district comfortably with 57 percent in 2004, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) carried it with 53 percent in 2008.

He adds that Bachmann has appeal as a native Iowan in that early caucus state, but that she will not be the GOP nominee.

“As the GOP race for president starts to take shape, it’s worth remembering two things. First, Bachmann is not going to be the Republican nominee,” he said. “And second, in a crowded Republican contest in Iowa next February, anything could happen.”

Chris Cillizza added Bachmann to his top ten list for the first time last week:

9. Michele Bachmann: The Minnesota Republican House member is doing everything she can to give off the impression she is seriously considering a run for president. The latest sign? She will headline a fundraiser later this month to benefit the New Hampshire Republican Party. For tea-party aligned voters, Bachmann is a rock star; she was mobbed everywhere she went during last month’s CPAC gathering and her speech brought wild applause from the audience. But, Bachmann has little real political operation and virtually zero demonstrated ability — or willingness — to court voters outside of her conservative base. Still, if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin doesn’t run, Bachmann would be the candidate most likely to emerge as the tea party pick. (Previous ranking: N/A)

Though Rothenberg thinks Bachmann might hurt Pawlenty, Cillizza gives Pawlenty a top shot at the nomination at this point in the election season.

2. Tim Pawlenty: The former Minnesota governor is starting to win people — including the Fix — over. He is diligently working at building organizations in Iowa and New Hampshire and there are some signs that those efforts are paying off as he placed a solid third in a January straw poll in the Granite State. The biggest knock on Pawlenty is that he’s too nice and/or not charismatic enough to win the nomination. But, Pawlenty is improving — his 2011 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference was far better than the 2010 edition — and, given the flaws in the field, being too nice isn’t all that bad. As a result, Pawlenty is the name you hear on more and more lips when asking neutral Republicans who they think their nominee might be. And that’s a great place to be right now. (Previous ranking: 5)

Walz had $596,000 to spend by the end of March, while Demmer only had $19,000, with $135,150 worth of loans remaining from his run for the GOP endorsement in 2008.

Republican activist Vin Weber told Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, “Democrats had been counting on the Republicans nominating Allen Quist. Now they know they’ll have a fight on their hands.”

And the Minnesota DFL has already started the fight with this statement, issued immediately following the endorsement:

“Randy Demmer is about as inconsistent and hypocritical as they come. As a state legislator, Mr. Demmer regularly pandered to the far right instead of working for the needs of his constituents. Now he is trying to paint himself as a mainstream candidate. As a legislator, Mr. Demmer vehemently opposed creating jobs in the bonding bill, citing concerns over fiscal responsibility — but as a taxpayer, Demmer had no problem taking millions of dollars in business and farm subsidies. And while opposing what he calls ‘government handouts,’ Randy Demmer took legislative per-diems when he was out of the state attending a partisan event.

The Minnesota GOP mentioned Demmer just twice in their statement on the endorsement, opting to attack Walz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama:

“Randy Demmer is the right choice to take on a Pelosi rubber stamp like Tim Walz. Randy understands that tax relief and sensible, limited government are the best ways to spur private sector job growth. Walz likes to talk about being an ‘independent leader,’ but he has voted nearly 97 percent of the time with Pelosi. Walz has repeatedly turned his back on Southern Minnesota on critical issues by voting for the government takeover of health care, taxpayer funding of abortion, the failed Obama ‘stimulus,’ and the job-killing cap and trade bill. After four years of out of touch liberalism from Walz, it’s time Southern Minnesota again had a leader who listened to them.”

Walz’s campaign also released a statement touting the incumbent Democrat’s accomplishments:

“After six months of negative campaigning, we are very interested in finally hearing State Rep. Demmer’s ideas to solve the immense challenges we face. We are going to continue running our campaign on Tim’s record of effective service for southern Minnesota. Tim has delivered for our businesses on main street while holding Wall Street accountable, delivered for our veterans by working to ensure they receive the benefits they have earned, delivered for middle class families with the largest tax cut in history and delivered for students by making sure college is more affordable. Folks in southern Minnesota know Tim works for them.”

Despite a crowded field seeking to replace the retiring Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2010, writes the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, “Democrats have to like their chances given the lean of the state where President Obama won by 10 points in 2008.”

Control of state government is key to the parties’ fortunes as new congressional districts get drawn.

State demographers renewed their warning last week that Minnesota is “on the cusp” of losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Polidata projects Minnesota will indeed be one of 10 states losing House seats (pdf).

The Sixth Congressional District now held by Rep. Michele Bachmann, has been identified as a leading contender for elimination due in part to the irregular shape of its boundaries.

In particular, Balz criticizes T-Paw for his awkward refusal to embrace Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe as a member in good standing of the GOP during a recent television appearance. He also dings Pawlenty for eagerly wading into the recent congressional contest in upstate New York and for criticizing President Obama’s address to students on the first day of school. The awkward attempt to reposition himself for a Republican primary reminds Balz of Mitt Romney’s (doomed) 2008 presidential campaign.

The real risk for Pawlenty, as Romney learned in his unsuccessful 2008 campaign, is losing his true voice and his authenticity. Romney spent so much time trying to reposition himself and picking narrow tactical fights with his rivals that the qualities that might have made him a more attractive candidate were lost in the smoke. But once a candidate starts down that road, it can be hard to pull back.

This year, Romney has generally kept a lower profile. The view among strategists is that Romney has been shrewd in staying out of these flare-ups and wise to try to focus on big-picture issues of national security and the economy when he raises his profile. Pawlenty, being less known nationally and looking to attract attention to himself, has been reluctant to stay quiet.

Last week, another Washington Post political reporter, Chris Cillizza, made similar criticisms of Pawlenty.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Rybak is DFL’s “strongest candidate” for governor. So says Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza. [The Fix]

HUGO: 10,000 loons? The crowd at U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House call” protest included a Hugo couple who call her “a very effective representative.” [St. Cloud Times]

ST. PAUL: Now his Trice will really get Dusty. Dems’ one-man answer to the Minnesota Democrats Exposed hangs up his spurs. [DustyTrice.com]

MINNEAPOLIS: “The K” is #1. The University of Minnesota’s student radio station, Radio K, has the nation’s best student media website. [UMNews]

DULUTH: Market improves for uninhabitable homes. City government will pay $40,000–60,000 each if the council accepts $3 million in federal funds to create a “blight-free Duluth.” [Northland's News Center]

ST. PAUL: “DFL: Pawlenty’s partying gift to MN is instability.” That typo (?) proves MN Publius doesn’t just parrot party pronouncements. [MN Publius]

Cillizza knocks Pawlenty for clumsily wading into the congressional race in upstate New York that was ultimately won by Democrat Bill Owens. He also criticizes the Republican governor for an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show during which he suggested that U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine might not be sufficiently down with GOP orthodoxy to remain a member in good standing of the party. The upshot of these two events, according to Cillizza: Pawlenty appears to be too transparently pandering to conservative activists.

Even so, The Fix scribe is not willing to write off Pawlenty’s 2012 ambitions. “Pawlenty still has more than two years to grow into the role he is running for,” Cillizza notes. “And, now is the time to make mistakes — when only a few super-nerdy political junkies (yours truly very much included) and a handful of party activists are paying close attention.”

Cillizza is a fan and doesn’t break T-Paw’s chops for galavanting around the nation, the way we locals (who unlike Cillizza are the constituents he leaves behind) tend to do:

Give Tpaw credit — he recognized that he had to quickly get moving if he wanted to emerge as a national leader, and he has done just that. Pawlenty has been somewhere close to ever-present on cable chat shows and has generally weighed in on national issues with gravity and smarts. (His decision to suspend any expenditure of state dollars to ACORN backfired a bit when Minnesota’s ACORN representative said the organization didn’t get any state cash.) Pawlenty has a prime speaking spot at the Values Voters Summit tomorrow night; if he does well, expect the buzz factor on him to rise.

But Cillizza’s not the only one with Pawlenty in his sights as the Values Voter Summit gets underway. Minnesota’s governor is the first target of a new Democratic National Committee campaign called “Call ‘Em Out,” taking Pawlenty to task for his statement about health care reform.

The campaign’s name is inspired by the Obama line: “I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it … If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out.”

11. Minnesota (R): Every elected official in Minnesota appears to be running for the seat being vacated by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R). (The Cook Political Report lists five announced candidates on the Democratic side and seven on the GOP side.) Because there are so many people in both fields, handicapping the race is tough but Minnesota has trended strongly toward Democrats in recent elections and voters are likely to be looking for a Democrat after eight years of Republican control of the governor’s mansion. (Previous ranking: N/A)

Photos: Chris Steller, Andy Birkey/MnIndy

What was that all about? We shook the last two 24-hour news cycles’ worth of media mumbo-jumbo on the Norm Coleman-Al Franken fracas, and this is what fell out.

Franken won by being very, very quiet: Everyone seems to agree on this point. First, Chris Cillizza at his Washington Post blog The Fix:

When the race ended in a tie, Franken did something very smart; he stayed out of the spotlight. He was rarely seen or heard and when he did pop into public view it was during an occasional visit to Washington when he was huddling with potential colleagues and getting briefed on issues by potential staffers — in short, acting like a senator. He gave Republicans nothing to use to sow doubts about whether he was ready for the office to which he was headed. While Franken’s personal discipline did little to effect the legal outcome, it played a critical part in slowly but surely securing public support behind the idea that not only had he won but that he was ready to be a senator.

Newsweek‘s Howard Fineman is a pal of Al’s:

One would-be advisor told him that the best way to deal with his show-biz background was to shine a light on it, play it up. ”That was 100 percent wrong!” Al told me last night.

Politico’s Mike Allen, appearing on MSNBC’s Hardball, put it more bluntly (video):

He shut his mouth, and when you’re Al Franken that’s not easy to do.

What’ll that Norm do next?: Through all the rancor, outrage and mock-outrage — and then all the graciousness, which may have been harder to take — the question was always what Coleman might do next. Appeal? Appeal again? Appeal again and again? And still, that’s the question of the hour, now revolving about whether he’ll run for governor, as he teased at his backyard concession event. Eric Black at MinnPost attacks it from all angles, concluding with this memorable image:

All of which should have taught Coleman by now that when people try to tell him how his next race is a can’t-miss proposition, he should smile, tiptoe into a padded room, and scream.

It’s getting meta all the time: The Associated Press asked Franken who should play him on Saturday Night Live, the TV show he used to write for. Franken picked Fred Armisen, who currently plays President Obama on the show.

Franken himself once portrayed a Democratic senator for an SNL spoof of the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in two weeks Franken will play that role for real during hearings into Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the high court.

Last one out, wake up the Lizard People: Local talking heads, who for months told millions via a grateful news media what had just happened and what would happen next, now can seek out pillows and rest up for the next Minnesota election debacle (a word none of them would use even if they sometimes wanted to). One was Hamline University Law School Professor David Schultz, who according to Politico:

… stood outside Coleman’s St. Paul house Tuesday, where the former senator delivered his concession remarks. There, the professor bounced from reporter to reporter, from television satellite truck to satellite truck, summing it all up. In June, he had predicted that the state Supreme Court would hand down a 5-0 decision in favor of Franken and that it would come just before the July 4 weekend. Schultz has, in fact, been in fine form with his prognostications for much of the recount, making up for what he says was a string of bad calls he committed during the 2000 Florida recount. “I have to sort of say I got dumb lucky on this on one level,” Schultz told POLITICO.

Schultz made any number of other predictions that would have put the end to the fight at various points from at least April to the end of June, but who’s counting and who cares? He was willing to stick his neck out, and that counts for a lot.

Another person who stuck her neck out and crowed about it was Minnesota’s long-suffering solo senator, Amy Klobuchar. Her prediction on “The Rachel Maddow Show” for an early end to her misery (by ice-out) wasn’t half-bad, but we’re all lucky her revised prognostication (by the Fourth of July) came true or she would have been “mad” — a point she repeated when she revisited the MSNBC show this week (video).

Land of Loons: Back in Minnesota, commentators tended to be clear-headed about the affair despite the national buzz. As good a short summary as you’re likely to read appeared in the St. Cloud Times:

“I supported Coleman and thought this process raised some interesting legal questions,” said Jim Knoblach, a St. Cloud Republican, former state representative and prominent Coleman supporter. “Having said that, a lot of people were long ago ready for this to be over.”