Michele Bachmann’s campaign and CBS News clashed over the weekend when her campaign was accidentally included on an email chain with CBS News’ John Dickerson explaining that Bachmann would not get as much attention during and after Saturday’s presidential debate. According to CNN, Bachmann’s campaign manager Keith Nahigian walked through the spin room and called Dickerson a “piece of shit.”

Prior to Saturday night’s foreign policy debate in South Carolina hosted by CBS and National Journal, Bachmann spokesperson Alice Stewart was accidentally copied on an email about a post debate webshow hosted by CBS. The email said that Bachmann would not receive the same amount of attention that the frontrunners would due to her low polling numbers.

Here’s a screenshot of the email provided by the Bachmann campaign:

During the debate, campaign manager Keith Nahigian sent a message to Bachmann supporters on Facebook:

“While Michele has been onstage at tonight’s debate demonstrating strong leadership on foreign policy and national security, we received concrete evidence confirming what every conservative already knows – the liberal mainstream media elites are manipulating the Republican debates by purposely suppressing our conservative message and limiting Michele’s questions,” he said. “[W]e need to show the liberal media elite that we won’t stand for this outrageous manipulation. Help us fight this affront by sharing this with your friends.”

Nahigian followed that up with an email message to supporters accusing the media of anti-Bachmann bias (Nahigian’s emphasis).

“[W]e will NOT stand for this pathetic attempt by the liberal media to manipulate the Republican primary process by limiting Michele’s conservative message for Republican primary voters,” he wrote. “ALL AMERICANS should be offended by this blatant attempt to manipulate the nominating process. Primaries are about voters, NOT the media elites. This is OUR primary and we will fight this blatant attempt to suppress Michele’s conservative message.”

According to CNN, during the debate, Nahigian ran through the spin room where the media and campaign staffers were gathered and said, “John Dickerson should be fired. He is a piece of shit. He is a fraud and he should be fired.”

After the debate, Bachmann told CNN, “I think it’s only respectful to allow the candidates to be able to speak and not intentionally ahead of time make a decision to limit candidates’ opportunity to speak to the American people. Clearly this was an example of media bias.”

Please join Minnesota Independent reporters at 7 p.m. this evening for a live tweet of the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nev.

Previous debates have included gaffes, accusations and outright inaccuracies. We’ll be here, along with our colleagues nationwide at the American Independent News Network, to offer context and analysis.

Our Twitter feed will be updated live on this page during the debate. Please don’t hesitate to engage with us, we’ll retweet you! The Twitter hashtag for the debate is #CNNDebate, and you can follow the Twitter account of the Minnesota Independent’s reporters @MnIndyLive (also, feel free to follow our story publishing account @MnIndy).

At Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate in Florida, a gay soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience because he asked a question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. None of the candidates on stage came to his defense.

After the debate, many moderate Republicans spoke out against the audience’s behavior including Minnesota Republican Rep. John Kriesel who called those who booed “morons.”

Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq, asked the candidates what they would do with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell if they took over the White House. As he did, the audience booed, and Santorum responded that he would reinstate DADT.

Santorum overlooked that a soldier serving in Iraq during a time of war had been disrespected by the audience. That drew a sharp rebuke from Republicans who support LGBT members of the Armed Forces.

“Tonight, Rick Santorum disrespected our brave men and women in uniform, and he owes Stephen Hill, the gay soldier who asked him the question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, an immediate apology,” said a statement from GOProud, a conservative gay rights group aligned with the tea party. “That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done – put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life. It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.

Minnesota state Rep. John Kriesel (R-Cottage Grove) condemned the incident.

He wrote on Twitter:

“Booing a soldier during a time of war?!? A new low. Way to look compassionate Florida Republicans. #morons”

He added:

“If someone is brave enough to risk their life and serve their country in a time of war, let them serve. Who cares if they are gay?!?! How many of those people in the audience at the GOP debate that booed the gay soldier serving in Afghanistan are brave enough to serve??”

Only two of the candidates spoke out against it Thursday night.

“It was unfortunate,” Jon Huntsman told Talking Points Memo. “You know, we’re all Americans, and the fact that he is an American who put on the uniform says something good about him.”

Gary Johnson said, “In my opinion, when you have booing this is not indicative of Republicans,” he said. “This is not the Republican Party that I belong to.”

Fox News’ Iowa debate of Republican presidential hopefuls brought frequent clashes between Minnesota’s two candidates. Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty both took turns attacking each others’ records — with the moderator’s prodding. Pawlenty took Bachmann to task for not having enough executive experience while Bachmann compared Pawlenty to President Obama.

Here’s the first exchange the two had, where Pawlenty dinged Bachmann for making false statements and Bachmann attacked Pawlenty for supporting cap and trade:

Immediately following the debate, the Bachmann team released a statement saying simply, “Tim Pawlenty’s executive experience is not an asset if it simply means bigger and more intrusive government.” The campaign included with that statement research painting Pawlenty as a big-government Republican because of his past support for cap and trade and government involvement in health care.

“It shows that we’re gaining traction in Iowa,” Pawlenty campaign manager Nick Ayers.

In another exchange, Pawlenty and Bachmann sparred over the cigarette tax that was passed in 2005 (the exchange begins at the 12-minute mark):

Talking Points Memo took a look at the history of that bill and provides some context:

So what the heck were they talking about? Well, the big heavy lift in the budget deal that ended the shutdown was the cigarette fee. Republicans in the state legislature weren’t any happier about new taxes than Republicans in Congress are today. As a sweetener for wavering conservatives, the health and human services funding bill containing the fee also contained an anti-abortion provision to try and shame women seeking to end their pregnancy. Under the new law, doctors would be required to ask patients more than 20 weeks pregnant seeking an abortion whether they would like to first give their fetus anesthesia before the procedure.

The abortion part of the bill starkly divided state conservative groups: the main anti-abortion group, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, endorsed the health bill. But the main anti-tax group, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, opposed it. After a vote by Bachmann to strip the bill of the cigarette tax failed 47-19 in the Senate, she ended up voting for the final deal.

Pawlenty’s campaign deflected assertions that he went after Bachmann too hard.

On his blog, Prof. David Schultz of Hamline University notes that Pawlenty has a history of going after female candidates:

The Bachmann/Pawlenty feud is the media highlight of the debate. Both came off looking petty and small. Pawlenty is correct that Bachmann has no real legislative record, Bachmann is correct that Pawlenty has switched on many issues. Leave it there. But both felt they needed to dig at one another, underscoring the deep animosity the two h ave always had toward one another, not only enhanced by their rival Iowa strategies. Yet Pawlenty came off worse. He was given a second chance to criticize Romney and again soft-peddled it. Thus, he was too weak against Romney and too aggressive and petty against Bachmann. This attack reveals a deeper sexism with Pawlenty.

Recall in 2006 his attacks against DFL Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Judy Dutcher when she blanked on a reporter’s question about E85. At one point DFL Gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch stated about Pawlenty: “Look at how desperate he is, he is attacking a woman.” Hatch took heat for that statement but in retrospect he seems prescient. Pawlenty’s sexism is his inability to confront and challenge men, preferring to pick on others he perceives as weak, such as women. This is the the wimp factor.

Pawlenty told Politico after the debate that his attacks on Bachmann had nothing to do with her gender.

Pawlenty said, “It’s not about gender, it’s about the issues. Representative Bachman likes to assign herself the label of leader. Well if you’re going to be a leader, you have to be accountable for results.”

A high school sophomore from New Jersey is challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution. In an open letter to Bachmann, Amy Myers of Cherry Hill, N.J., said, “I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted.”

“I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics,” Myers wrote, according to a report by City Pages’ Nick Pinto.

Politifact rated Bachmann’s statements about the U.S. Constitution’s census requirements in 2009 as “Pants on Fire” false. CNN’s Anderson Cooper dinged Bachmann back in January for her revisionist history regarding the U.S. Constitution’s racist past.

Here’s Myers full letter:

Dear Representative Bachmann,

My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.

Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.

Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:

I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.

Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.

Sincerely yours,
Amy Myers

Blowing off “Almanac” last Friday and going to the Guthrie Theater instead seemed like a good way to put an end to an exhausting Election Day/Week/Month/Year and exorcise the ghosts of a long campaign season. We got rush tickets to the penultimate performance of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge,” ready to be transported to working-class Brooklyn, purely for the escapism, with no exit poll demographics in mind.

At first, it seemed to be working. I let pass without mention a trivial thought: that 1956, the year Miller wrote the play, was the same year that voter turnout in Minnesota voters last topped 80 percent, a hoped-for but not-quite-achieved figure on Tuesday. When the play started, I didn’t notice that Eddie, the boorish central character who used to be likable, sometimes wandered the stage like a second-debate John McCain.

But then came the climactic moment at the end (spoiler alert!) when Eddie phones the authorities from a pay phone to report that Marco and Rodolfo, his wife’s cousins from Italy, are working in the United States illegally. As immigration officers drag away Marco, the older cousin who has been sending his longshoreman’s wages back home to feed his family, he spits in Eddie’s face, pointing and shouting for all the neighbors to hear: “That one! I accuse that one! That one!”

Suddenly, rushing back unbidden and unwelcome, came visions of McCain applying the same apparent epithet to Barack Obama in that second presidential debate. Arthur Miller’s artifice dropped away, and it was as if McCain’s about-face on immigration policy and his subsequent loss of the Latino vote had just played out before us, amid a revival of McCarthyesque furor. It was time to go home and check the the gap in the Franken-Coleman U.S. Senate race, which had shrunk by another 17 votes, to 221, in the short time we’d spent with Eddie and Marco, a half century ago in Brooklyn.

Today at 11 am MPR’s Midday is broadcasting the final candidates’ debate between Republican Michele Bachmann and Democrat El Tinklenberg for Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District seat. MnIndy’s Andy Birkey and Steve Perry are liveblogging the event here.
Click here to watch in a new window.

MPR’s Midday program at 11 a.m. today will be given over to the last debate between Rep. Michele Bachmann and her 6th district opponent, El Tinklenberg. You can find the live feed here at the appointed hour. And come on back to MnIndy for our live blog of the half-hour-long faceoff.

Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi (shown), U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher will kick off an apparently new Women for Madia campaign in Bloomington Monday morning. Photo: house.gov

Two indications that the tight 3rd Congressional District race remains in the nation’s crosshairs, even as U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s antics in the 6th District grab headlines.

First, the big guns keep coming: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whose very name and title are enough to spur derisive jeers at Republican rallies, will campaign in person with DFL 3rd District candidate Ashwin Madia today. (Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner visited the state on Paulsen’s behalf last week.)

And the national media continue to turn attention to the Twin Cities’ western suburbs. (Today it’s a profile of the contest with focus on Madia in the Washington Post — whose Chris Cillizza, keeper of The Fix blog, on Friday abruptly and inexplicably left the 3rd District race off his list of the 25 races for U.S. House where parties are most likely to lose seats, to the consternation of commenters.)

But in a sign that the spectacle in the 6th is drawing focus and donation dollars, Madia released a statement this morning, saying, “Bachmann’s comments represent the very worst in American politics.”

‘Disturbing’ Paulsen ad
Over the weekend, Republican state Sen. Erik Paulsen released a new ad called “Disturbing” that stays warm and fuzzy for about two seconds before turning on the attack graphics and low-register voice-over delivering (disputed) warnings about who Madia will tax and how often he has lied about it:

Three-way debate
KSTP-TV hosted a debate with all three candidates Friday evening. Here is the full hourlong video:

Dillon speaks!
Earlier on Friday, Independence Party candidate David Dillon took his turn in the U of M Humphrey Institute’s series of noontime events with the 3rd District contenders. (Madia and Paulsen appeared earlier in the week.) Here is a liveblog of the Dillon event, courtesy of the Humphrey Institute’s Smart Politics blog, which also profiled the race over the weekend. And here is audio from Dillon’s appearance, courtesy of MPR’s Polinaut blog (if audio player doesn’t appear below, visit the Polinaut page:

Blip.tv and YouTube versions.