El Tinklenberg

With more than a year to go until the general election, abortion is already becoming an issue in the 6th Congressional District race. An analysis of anti-abortion campaign donations finds that Rep. Michele Bachmann is one of the country’s top earners — and she’s delivered for her contributors on that issue. At the same time, local anti-abortion forces are already tarring DFL candidate Rep. Tarryl Clark just a day after she announced her candidacy.

With so much early speculation about the race to unseat Michele Bachmann in Congressional District 6, perhaps Elwyn Tinklenberg didn’t want to be left out. Bachmann’s 2008 challenger has seen headlines big and small: Maureen Reed’s entrance into the raise (and substantial fundraising), state Sen. Tarryl Clark’s probable candidacy, noises from a third-party candidate who [...]

Making the cover of TIME wasn’t the peak of Shepard Fairey’s successes this election season: his iconic Obama poster was purchased by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery for an undisclosed sum, and a reworking of the red, white and blue classic is being given away to donors to the historic inauguration. But for those of [...]

The main question for the national Democratic party this morning may be what to take for all those post-victory hangovers, but at some point the chieftains of the Democratic congressional apparatus will get around to examining those few places where the party failed to make the most of a decisive Barack Obama win. And when they do, Minnesota — where Obama turned in the strongest Democratic presidential performance since 1976 — is likely to be at the top of the list.

Before Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Oct. 17 statements on MSNBC about “anti-America views” she feared some in Congress hold, the airwaves in the 6th Congressional District were relatively quiet. But over the past two weeks well over $1 million in campaign contributions from people outraged by her comments have poured into the campaign of DFLer El [...]

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is putting up a new television spot in the 6th Congressional District attacking Rep. Michele Bachmann on the economy.

Meanwhile, Bachmann’s ad attacking Democratic challenger El Tinklenberg gets panned by Minnesota Public Radio’s Tim Pugmire who says, the “Facts don’t support Bachmann ad claims.”
“One of the latest twists in the too-close-to-call [...]

Supporters of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann rallied on a dead-end street outside Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) studios in St. Paul today, where the embattled member of Congress debated Democrat El Tinklenberg for 30 minutes (archived MnIndy liveblog here, archived MPR audio here). At his News Cut blog, MPR’s Bob Collins shows and tells scenes of [...]

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.

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.

Congressional Quarterly released its election rankings for Senate and House races throughout the country, and it isn’t good news for Republicans. In all, 74 Democratic House candidates improved in CQ’s rankings compared to just nine for Republicans. In terms of Senate races, Democrats’ chances improved in 14 races compared to just two for Republicans.
In Minnesota, [...]