Nancy Schumaker

A tough fund-raising climate and crowded candidate field contributed to Elwyn Tinklenberg’s decision to pull out of the 6th Congressional District contest just one week after announcing his candidacy. The former Blaine mayor, who in 2008 narrowly lost to the Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, raised just $55,000 in the second quarter of this year and faced two challengers from within the DFL.

Tarryl Clark has been rumored to be eyeing either the governor’s race or a challenge to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in the Sixth Congressional District, but she has remained cagey about her ambitions. The local DFL chair says Clark “is actively considering getting into the Sixth Congressional District race.”

There will be a battle to determine who will get the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nod to take on Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2010. Nancy Schumaker, chair of the Sixth Congressional District DFL, confirms that both Elwyn Tinklenberg and Maureen Reed have told local party activists that they intend to seek the endorsement.

Democrats are once again salivating at the prospect of taking on Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2010. But the flamboyant legislator has proven a redoubtable opponent in a congressional district that skews heavily Republican.