Photo: Boorman818, Flickr

Former Vice President Walter Mondale sent out a fundraising appeal Tuesday on behalf of 6th Congressional District challenger Tarryl Clark. An additional money pitch was dispatched by Patty Wetterling, who unsuccessfully ran against Michele Bachmann for an open House seat in 2006.

The appeals come as the third-quarter fundraising deadline looms on Wednesday, the first since Clark announced that she’s running against Bachmann. The Democratic state senator will undoubtedly want to report an impressive fundraising total in order to put national groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on notice that she intends to run a viable campaign. Clark’s only challenger for the DFL endorsement, Maureen Reed, brought in more than $230,000 during the second quarter of 2009.

Bachmann’s hoping for a strong financial showing by Wednesday’s filing deadline, too. She sent out a fundraising appeal of her own on Tuesday, noting that she’s among eight Republicans targeted by the Democrats in 2010.

“I must show a solid bank account to keep the Democrats from pouring millions into my opponents’ campaigns,” she wrote. “They’ve spent millions here before, and right now they’re gearing up to do it again!”

“The person I am supporting has the executive leadership ability of a manager of a large public office, the community commitment of a local elected official, and the moral integrity of a prosecutor who does what is right rather than what is popular,” Wetterling writes in the letter, released by the Gaertner campaign. “With strong Democratic values and a pragmatic approach, this candidate will bring together progressives, moderates, and independents in a coalition that can win next November. This candidate is Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, and I am proud to support her campaign for governor of Minnesota in 2010.”

Wetterling is widely admired for her work on child-safety issues following the abduction of her son, Jacob, in 1989. But that respect hasn’t translated into success in electoral politics. Wetterling twice ran unsuccessfully for the 6th Congressional District seat, losing most recently to Michele Bachmann in 2006 by a 50-42 percent margin.

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

TWIN CITIES: Mayors join to battle for business. Competing with China and California rather than each other is the motto for 34 metro-area mayors. [Star Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: Twin Cities, one paper? As the Star Tribune’s post-bankruptcy board of directors takes shape, a leading investor has no plans to merge the daily with the St. Paul Pioneer Press but says it “makes a lot of sense.” [Star Tribune]

WADENA: Carrying on Carrie Nation’s fight. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874, drew only a six-pack of members to its annual state convention. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

ST. JOSEPH: Families with missing members draw hope from California case. Patty Wetterling says the release of Jaycee Lee Dugard inspires her as she waits for her son, Jacob, to come home. Meanwhile, 100 gathered Saturday in Thief River Falls to pray for the return of a local woman who disappeared last October. [Associated Press; Morris Sun Tribune]

HIBBING: Flu influences back-to-school shopping lists. Hand sanitizers now go hand in hand with glue sticks. [Hibbing Daily Tribune]

STATEWIDE: With stay-cation trend, the thrill is gone. Half the campsites at Minnesota State Parks are still available for Labor Day weekend. [St. Cloud Times]

We have some of the latest inside.The New York Sun takes a closer look at whether McCain is giving off a “Pawlenty’s picked” kind of vibe:

In the final week of the November election, Mr. McCain made several appearances with Mr. Pawlenty and his words of praise would suggest the Arizona senator sees in the governor a potential future vice president.”I know of no one who will make a greater contribution to the future of America than this great leader,” Mr. McCain said at one stop.”This is the kind of leadership that I’d like to pass the torch to.”

Of course, the columnist also stated “A Democrat won Mr. Kennedy’s old House seat,” so he’s already having some issues with politics.

Captain Ed agrees with the Sun in one respect, with talented GOP Governors in short supply, Pawlenty may win by default.

However, Geraghty is correct about one item, and that’s the lack of ready talent for the VP slot. Unless the nominee takes one of the challengers as a running mate after the convention, the pickings are slim, especially at he gubernatorial level. Pawlenty managed to win re-election, and other than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mike Huckabee, no other GOP governor has made much noise on a national level — and Arnold’s ineligible for the ticket.

And with Pawlenty jumping so solidly on the McCain bandwagon, Ed wonders if they have an agreement already. “[Pawlenty] passed that opportunity up early, and that makes me think that McCain and Pawlenty have more going on than just a mutual admiration society.”

The Family Security Matters website had the same thought:

Speaking of Republican Governors, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) seems to be following this close to Sen. McCain. Sure makes a person wonder…if McCain does grab the nomination, will Pawlenty be chosen as his running mate?

Closer to home, Andy Aplikowski shows some concerns over what he has dubbed the “McPlenty Ticket,” the primary one being his fear that the party won’t pay enough attention to Senator Norm Coleman’s early re-election campaing.

Once an endorsement happens, fine, but I will be damned if the state party is going to go pimping for an unendorsed Presidential candidate or Vice President candidate just because they happen to be from our state.

And from the left side of the fence, MN Politics Guru looks at Pawlenty’s run to the center.

Pawlenty is definitely changing his tune. An earlier version of the story online had Pawlenty sounding like a far-left liberal, saying “look at all of the tax credits and subsidies the oil industry gets” when questioned about just how conservative it is to subsidize renewables. Definitely not old-time Pawlenty-speak.

What’s his motivation? I have no idea. If it is higher office, this isn’t the way to go about it: running as a Rockefeller Republican won’t get you any Republican endorsements nationally in this day and age. So what can it be?

But the real story today (or yesterday, rather) is that Wetterling has taken to TV to spread her message concerning this scandal (ad here, take a look).  I’m sure that some conservative commentators will start criticizing the ad as political opportunism but, believe me, if there’s one candidate that would never try to take advantage of a child’s mistreatment, it’s Patty Wetterling.

Rather, Wetterling is addressing an issue very near and dear to her heart by publicly calling for responsibility in the handling of this matter.  She has not pointed fingers, she has not overstepped, she has merely stated that anyone who knew about this should resign immediately.  A very reasonable request, if you ask me.  And in doing so Patty is forcing attention towards Michele Bachmann’s continual dodging of the issues at hand.

This is an incredible failure of political leadership in Congress and anyone hoping to be part of that leadership in the future should clearly outline where they stand on this issue.  We’re happy to know that Patty Wetterling can be counted on to stand up for what’s right and hold accountable those who are too timid to join her.

READ more below the fold!

Michele Bachmann’s ad (watch the ad here) is a very up-beat first look at the candidate’s background.  Shying away from real issue stances (sorry, talking about lowering taxes and creating “better jobs” don’t count as real issue stances) and instead talks about her family life and history as a tax attorney.  The real story here is that Bachmann doesn’t really highlight her strong conservative background.  As one of the few GOP candidates running this cycle who hasn’t shied away from President Bush and her major issue in the state legislature being a ban on gay marriage, it’s somewhat surprising that she doesn’t come out a little stronger off the bat.  The ad does, however, hint that “family values” will be a much repeated slogan in her campaign as much of the footage seems to aim at connecting her with that idea.

Patty Wetterling’s ad (watch it here) is also a very standard first-run ad.  Like Bachmann, Wetterling doesn’t really talk about any concrete issues (here talking about protecting families doesn’t really count as a real issue stance) but instead opts for a highlight real of her history of activism.  In this regard Wetterling’s video does seem much more substantive than Bachmann’s because it does at least review her past work in the political community whereas Bachmann provides virtually no review of her legislative record.  As we’ve seen in past Wetterling races, Patty is clearly rooting her candidacy in her work as a child advocate.

Overall neither ad ventures too far from the first-run model of providing candidate context.  Patty Wetterling’s ad does, however, provide more information about her previous political work than does Michele Bachmann’s ad.  But the effectiveness of each ad will probably boil down to personal preference.