Photo: bachmann.house.gov

Were U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to give a school speech of her own — “What I Did During My Summer Vacation” — she could confidently state that she cemented a place for herself in the national news media’s consciousness. The latest evidence: Bachmann figures prominently in two end-of-summer news quizzes from The Atlantic and the New York Times.

Neither quiz question will tax regular readers of the Minnesota Independent, but here they are for the record.

From the “Summer 2009 Political Vocabulary Quiz” by the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder:

8. “Michele Bachmann” is:
A. an invention of the liberal blogosphere
B. a Republican member of Congress from Minnesota who aspires to run for the presidency
C. a family doctor in Tupelo

From “An End of Summer Quiz” by the New York Times’ Gail Collins:

III. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota or Sarah Palin?
A) “Right now we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom in this country.”
B) “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’. …”
C) Refuses to fill out her census form.
D) Urged people to be “armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax.”
E) Going to China to address an investors forum sponsored by a Hong Kong brokerage firm.
F) “Only dead fish go with the flow.”

An editorial cartoonist’s dream, Blagojevich’s hair has been commented upon widely, including by many mainstream news outlets that see it as diagnostic of…something. The New York Times’ Gail Collins, wondering how someone with Blagojevich’s 13 percent approval rating won election in the first place, writes, “I am personally leaning toward the theory that it was the hair. Blagojevich tossed his thick brown mane and the voters told each other: ‘Yes, he sounds a little dumb. But truly, this is the hair of a reformer.’”

Then there’s the angle that Blago’s locks may mean he’s loco. The Chicago Sun-Times talked to psychologists who say the governor’s perfectly managed image and “grandiose sense of self” could be indicative of “narcissistic personality disorder” (the “hairbrained” story includes a reader poll: “Do you think Blagojevich is crazy?”).

And, of course, comedians are having a field day. Wonkette’s headline says the governor’s “terrible hair has been found guilty of everything,” while Jon Stewart reported that The Daily Show would have “complete coverage of Blagojevich tomorrow, including what I can only assume will be the filing of charges alleging beaver-pelt smuggling as well.”

Now, a look at the visual side of things:

In 2005, the blog The Inside Dope joked that the governor’s hair was going rogue:

A courtroom sketch this week by Cheryl Cook captures Blagojevich, apparently on his way to modeling sportswear in the 1983 JC Penney catalogue:

Then came the cartoonists, who seemed to give the hair equal billing to the “seat” Blagojevich wanted to sell (images via Political Humor at About.com):

Curiously, a look at Google Trends shows that during the last month, the number of American news references to “Blagojevich” was catching up to the number of media mentions for the more generic “hair.”

Update: David Brauer presents an eerie similarity (at least hairwise)– between Blagojevich and ousted Star Tribune CEO Par Ridder.

And from Mediation, one wild and crazy guy:

Got a favorite Blago image/story? Leave a link in comments.

As time passed, many voters in Minnesota decided that there are things worse than a history of making offensive jokes, one of them being a history of supporting George W. Bush. Coleman’s lead began shrinking. Both parties started pouring money into Minnesota. Both candidates cannily invested in negative ads, which were extremely effective in getting people to vote for Dean Barkley.

My personal favorite was a Coleman spot that had Hollywood celebrities saying they were embarrassed to be in the same business as Al Franken. It was far from the meanest. But it is really not all that often that you get the opportunity to see Stephen Baldwin, Pat Boone and the guy who played the mailman on “Cheers” all in one place. “We don’t all write dirty articles for Playboy!” yells Victoria Jackson, a “Saturday Night Live” alumna whose personal Web site announces: “I hope that America realizes that Obama is a communist before it’s too late.”