chris matthews

The Republican Party isn’t big enough to “throw people overboard,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty told GOP activists in Des Moines on Saturday. Jason Hancock of the Minnesota Independent’s sister site, the Iowa Independent, was there.

To paraphrase one of our governor’s favorite gags, the only thing rising faster than Tim Pawlenty on The Fix’s list of most influential Republicans is Chris Cillizza’s man-crush on Pawlenty. (Hey, it’s super-funny the way T-Paw tells it, about another Chris, MSNBC’s Matthews, and his fondness for Obama.) Pawlenty rockets up from the number 6 [...]

Meteorologists may have failed to forecast yesterday’s freak tornado, but political scientists are now able to predict when U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann will next appear on a national cable news show: Aug. 27.

It was the speech that was supposed to introduce Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a national figure to GOP party leaders, and he did get applause — and even some laughs — from the 200 people at the Republican National Committee luncheon yesterday. But his address seemed to be on the meek side for a potential Republican standard-bearer. [...]

MSNBC must stand for Minnesotans Speak Nightly By Cable. For the fourth straight night, the TV news channel carried a segment featuring a prominent elected official from the state. Thursday it was again Gov. Tim Pawlenty, this time on “Hardball” representing Republican governors who opposed the federal stimulus bill but will accept the money (a [...]

When TIME’s Best of 2008 series came out, I was surprised that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann didn’t make the cut. Her infamous October appearance on Hardball didn’t merit mention in the Top 10 Campaign Video Moments (which, rightfully, saw Sarah Palin’s Katie Couric interview at the top) or Top 10 Campaign Gaffes? Now, as 2008 [...]

With Pennsylvania Democrats confirming Chris Matthews is contemplating a Senate run against Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in 2010, The Hill wonders if the “Hardball” host will face what I’m calling the Franken Factor: intense scrutiny of public utterances made in the course of working a media job. Matthews’ candidacy is “in its infancy” according to [...]

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s 180-degree turn on Barack Obama has made her a New York Times cover girl today, the lead example in a front-page story on Republicans whose opinions of Obama have undergone drastic makeovers in the five days since his landslide victory in the presidential election. But hers wasn’t an immediate conversion, or even overnight as the Times has it. The political calculation required to move from worries about Obama’s “anti-American views” to his gladness over his African-American background took a little more time, even for a woman who also promised him a kiss.

It’s been almost two weeks since Michele Bachmann dropped the “anti-American” bomb that has become the most widely aired gaffe in any US congressional campaign this year, and her campaign’s handling of the matter looks a lot like one protracted act of political malpractice.

Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg leads U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.) 47 percent to 44 percent in a new poll of 621 likely voters in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District that Survey USA conducted Oct. 21–22 for KSTP-TV. The poll shows that 6 percent of respondents favored Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson and 2 percent were undecided. The poll has margin of [...]