Photo: Minnesota Independent

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 Sen. Tarryl Clark just a day after she announced her candidacy.

Bachmann is ranked third of 435 U.S. House members in total campaign contributions from anti-abortion interests, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. Bachmann received $63,658 since she announced her run for Congress in 2005 — 3.5 times the amount given by abortion opponents to all other Minnesota House members combined. Only Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., who was first elected to Congress in 2002, and Chris Smith, R-N.J., who’s been in Congress since 1980, have raised more from the anti-abortion lobby, taking in $89,081 and $142,854 respectively.

Among Minnesota’s other House members, Reps. John Kline ($9,050), Collin Peterson ($6,307), and James Oberstar ($3,289) have received money from the anti-abortion lobby. Three other members — Reps. Betty McCollum ($11,900), Tim Walz ($19,400) and Keith Ellison ( $4,600) — have accepted gifts from abortion-rights groups.

Bachmann’s disproportionate share of contributions has paid off for her anti-abortion benefactors. She’s sponsored or cosponsored an impressive 13 bills restricting abortion rights so far this year. Among the bills, one includes funneling entitlement money to “abortion alternatives” programs and another that would ban race and sex discrimination against fetuses. Yet another would give 14th Amendment protections to an embryo or fetus.

Her efforts have earned her the support of Minnesota’s largest anti-abortion group, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, which all but endorsed Bachmann in a scathing attack on Rep. Tarryl Clark only a day after she launched her campaign to replace Bachmann.

“The voters in the 6th Congressional District need to know that Tarryl Clark is a radical anti-life candidate,” said MCCL executive director Scott Fischbach said in a statement on Tuesday. “Senator Clark has voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions — even cruel saline abortions!”

“From now until the election in 2010, MCCL will work tirelessly to make sure the voters know that it is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who is willing to stand up and fight for the innocent unborn and their mothers, while Tarryl Clark supports even the most gruesome taxpayer funded abortions,” he said.

So far this year, MCCL has ignored the two other candidates in the race to unseat Bachmann. El Tinklenberg, who ran an unsuccessful campaign against Bachmann in 2006, describes himself as pro-life.

“It’s been my perspective since the early days of my life as a minister,” Tinklenberg during the 2008 campaign. “It’s not my mission in life to eliminate Roe [vs. Wade],” he said. “As a pro-life person, my mission is to reduce the number of abortions.”

Dr. Maureen Reed, who is also seeking to defeat Bachmann, hasn’t taken a strong stance on the issue, either in the current campaign or as candidate for lieutenant governor in 2006.

The email (below) concludes with a postscript asking for funds, stating that much of the money last time around came too late in the election cycle to effectively work to beat Bachmann. But early fundraising successes are just part of what Tinklenberg says has made him a better candidate. He writes that he’s “hired a campaign manager who’s run two straight winning campaigns against incumbent Republican members of Congress, and a team of consultants who over the last two elections have helped defeat dozens of incumbent Republican members of Congress.”

Tinklenberg says he’ll have more to say about his campaign “over the next few days.”

Here’s the full communique:

Last November I came within three points of being elected to Congress. It was a tough campaign, and early on it was hard to convince many people that I had a chance to win. I was running against an incumbent member of Congress in a district with a history of supporting Republicans. But by coming within three points, we showed we could make this a competitive race, and that I can win.

The national parties have noticed how close I came last year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has listed this race as one of their top eight pick-up opportunities. And just last week the National Republican Congressional Committee acknowledged that Michele Bachmann is one of their most vulnerable incumbents.

I’ve thought a lot about the last campaign, and have sought guidance and insight from many wise and experienced people. I have learned a lot, I have become a better candidate, and I am using what I’ve learned to assemble a team and to run a campaign that can win next November. I will tell you more about my campaign over the next few days, but I have hired a campaign manager who’s run two straight winning campaigns against incumbent Republican members of Congress, and a team of consultants who over the last two elections have helped defeat dozens of incumbent Republican members of Congress.

The Sixth District of Minnesota needs better representation in Congress. In my professional life, as a minister, as a mayor, as a leader in transportation, I’ve worked to bring people together and build on our common interests and foster trust and cooperation. Michele Bachmann acts in opposition to those principles, and instead seeks to divide people, to spread cynicism, and instill distrust and exploit differences and fear. I have a record of accomplishments, while she has a history of embarrassments. We need someone in Congress who will serve the people of Central Minnesota, and not a small radical fringe motivated by distrust and fear.

In the last two elections eight Democrats who had previously lost to a Republican incumbent were elected to Congress. I intend to speak with each of these eight members of Congress, to learn from them, and apply the lessons they learned with what I’ve learned from my last campaign. I’m determined to build a great campaign operation, to work tirelessly, and to take the fight to Michele Bachmann and never let up. I am running for Congress against Michele Bachmann, and I’m running to win.

Via Eric Black.

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 us who don’t have Fairey’s vision or twenty bucks to spare, there’s Obamiconme.com, a site by Paste magazine that lets users make their own Obamicized versions. We tried out Al Franken and Norm Coleman (swap headers depending on your political preference or predictions of the Senate race outcome) and, after the jump, a bit of advice for Rep. Michele Bachmann next time she’s on “Hardball” paired with her Sixth Congressional District challenger: THINK and TINK.

Want to submit your version for possible publication? Email me at pschmelzer [at] minnesotaindependent [dot] com.

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.

Pending the resolution of the recount-bound US Senate race, which Norn Coleman leads by a scant 700 votes over Al Franken out of nearly 2.86 million votes cast for those two and Dean Barkley, Minnesota stands to present a very curious profile: a blue state by a margin of 10 points in the presidential race — in 2004, John Kerry took the state by three points — that has failed to turn any of the three congressional seats that were very much in play: Coleman’s, Michele Bachmann’s 6th district House spot, and the open 3rd district seat previously held by Republican Jim Ramstad.

Though the Minnesota Senate race has yet to be decided, it’s entirely possible that Barack Obama’s 10-point win at the top of the ticket will prove to be all tophat and no tails. This is remarkable, especially when you consider the degree of Obama’s dominance here. This year marks just the fifth time since WWII that a Democratic presidential candidate has amassed 54 percent-plus of the Minnesota vote. (The others: Harry Truman’s 57 percent in 1948, plus three races [thanks, Ron...] with a favorite-son dimension: Jimmy Carter’s 55 percent in 1976 with Fritz Mondale as VP, Lyndon Johnson’s 64 percent in 1964 with Hubert Humphrey as the number two, and Humphrey’s own 54 percent showing in 1968.)

Obama beat by three points the percentage of the Minnesota presidential vote won by John Kerry in 2004 (54-51). And while Minnesota is not a red-to-blue state, that uptick is comparable to the one Obama ‘08 enjoyed over Kerry ‘04 in some states that did go red to blue, most notably Ohio (51-49/+2) and Florida (51-47/+4). Both those states saw two Democratic challengers beat Republican House incumbents (though, in Florida, the Democrats gave back one of those two with the defeat of scandal-plagued Rep. Tim Mahoney).

That’s not entirely a fair comparison, since Ohio and Florida both have much larger congressional delegations than Minnesota. But in view of the fact that the congressional leadership of both parties believed that the Minnesota US Senate seat and two House districts were in play, it’s almost shocking that Democrats may come away with no net gains to show for Obama’s decisive win here.

Where will the fingers point? Here’s a morning-after thumbnail of autopsies to come.

The urban/rural culture gap. Bachmann’s suburban and rural district is not just the most conservative in the state; it’s one of the most conservative in the Midwest. And despite circumstantial signs that the west-metro 3rd congressional district was not terribly conservative (the demographics, the long tenure of moderate Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad), that may have to be rethought. This strikes me as weak, though: Minnesota is not exactly the only state where gerrymandering is practiced, and it didn’t result in net-gain shutouts in other previously purplish states.

Weak Democratic candidates. Of the two Democratic House candidates who lost and the Senate candidate whose race stands in limbo this morning, only Ashwin Madia won much praise for his public profile and his campaign. Al Franken, who was aided mightily in winning the nomination by his mad skills as a fundraiser in the 2006 cycle, had low approval ratings and high negatives to a degree rarely seen among challengers in any federal race. El Tinklenberg’s campaign ran well enough by all appearances, except for the El Tinklenberg part. The softspoken and terminally unprepossessing Tinklenberg was never able to seize control of the dialogue, even when Bachmann made herself an object of broad popular scorn less than three weeks before the election. His lighter-than-air presence made the race entirely a referendum on Bachmann, which it did not have to be.

The he-said/she-said media. A huge factor in a tight Minnesota US Senate race. More about this later, but for now, let’s just note the outline of events in the final week-plus of the contest:

In a lawsuit filed by a Texas Republican business executive, Norm Coleman is implicated in receiving improper payments from a friend and patron through third-party arrangements.

Coleman responds by blaming it all on his opponent and his opponent’s political allies, a charge vigorously denied by the plaintiff in the lawsuit and by Coleman’s opponent.

A second lawsuit containing the same allegations against Coleman is filed.

And the media, led by the Star Tribune — which, despite its awful economic straits, remains the most-read and most influential news outlet in the state — by and large present the whole matter as an orgy of empty mudslinging that reflects discredit on both sides. A couple of days before the election, the brewing Coleman scandal disappears almost entirely from the news, apart from coverage of the closing Senate debate where it was brought up.

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 Tinklenberg. Meanwhile, outrage over what conservatives have deemed a media smear-job against Bachmann have generated half as much money for her campaign.

The result has been a slew of ads pushed out by campaigns and third-party supporters — at least half a dozen in the last five days.

Flush with new money, DFL candidate El Tinklenberg has started airing his third ad of the campaign season, which includes words from former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Bachmann has released four new ads in the last five days. Two repeat a misleading message regarding Tinklenberg’s term as transportation commissioner, one attacks him on property taxes and another promotes Bachmann’s “23 foster children,” as well as her opposition to the Wall Street bailout.

Alliance for a Better Minnesota put out an ad with Bachmann kissing Bush, saying “she embarrasses us.” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attacked Bachmann on her deregulation stance on Wall Street.

Bachmann: Tax Hikes Up Ahead!

Bachmann: Google Search Tinklenberg

Bachmann: Tink’s Failed Leadership at MnDOT

Bachmann: A Brighter Future

Alliance for a Better Minnesota: Michele Bachmann – Nonsense

Tinklenberg: Crisis

DCCC: Michele Bachmann – She’s for Wall Street, not Minnesota

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 6th District Congressional contest is Rep. Michele Bachmann’s accusations that El Tinklenberg broke the law when he was state transportation commissioner. Bachmann uses a TV commercial and a new web site to repeat the allegations. But there’s no indication Tinklenberg broke any laws.”

That ad after the jump.

Photo: MPR

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 political theater he judges unrivalled since the days of Gov. Jesse Ventura. The sign-wavers were there for Bachmann to meet and greet before the TV news crews, and a Bible-reading circle convened in MPR’s lobby — “presumably to protect Our Lady of HUAC from getting all contaminated by those evil secular humanist public radio people,” as one Daily Kos commenter put it.

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.

In Minnesota, Democratic Rep. Tim Walz of the 1st Congressional District is favored to win his race against Republican Brian Davis with CQ moving the race from Leans Democratic to Democrat Favored.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Iraq veteran and Democrat Steve Sarvi improved against Republican Rep. John Kline as CQ changed the race from Republican Favored to Leans Republican.

The flap over Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “anti-America” comments on Hardball less than two weeks ago appear to have influenced CQ’s ranking for the 6th Congressional District. The ranking jumped from Republican Favored to No Clear Favorite, putting Democratic candidate El Tinklenberg at an even shot to win the district.

Minnesota 1: Tim Walz , D
One year ago: Leans Democratic
Six months ago: Leans Democratic
Today: Democrat Favored

Minnesota 2: John Kline , R
One year ago: Safe Republican
Six months ago: Safe Republican
Today: Republican Favored

Minnesota 6: Michele Bachmann , R
One year ago: Republican Favored
Six months ago: Republican Favored
Today: No Clear Favorite