WaPo: Lacking influence, Bachmann may need to hone new skills to get bridge funds

Despite skillfully using the media in “boosting her personal brand,” Rep. Michele Bachmann has little influence on Capitol Hill, the Washington Post wrote in a profile Sunday. Of the 45 or so measures she’s introduced in her federal career, many are “small in scope and of great interest to conservative ideologues” — and few have gone anywhere. But one project — securing funding to replace the lift bridge over the St. Croix River in her hometown –”will test whether one of the most recognizable elected officials in Washington can fulfill the most basic duty of members of Congress: delivering for the voters in their district.”

MnIndy video: What do Bachmann’s constituents think about the ‘anti-American’ controversy?

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent Hardball blow-up has undoubtedly endangered her re-election prospects. But what do constituents in the 6th Congressional District think of Bachmann’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth disease? On Tuesday afternoon Chris Steller and I ventured into the northern suburbs to speak with voters about the controversy and their feelings regarding Bachmann. The responses were diverse, from a man who calls Bachmann a “nutcase” to a woman who shares Bachmann’s concerns about Barack Obama to a man who no longer votes because he feels all politicians are crooks.

‘Drain America First’: CD6 candidates spar over energy, economy and war

Republican incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann and two challengers who hope to unseat her to represent Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District in Washington met in Stillwater Wednesday evening for the first candidates’ forum. In front of a standing-room-only crowd, Bachmann, DFL-endorsed El Tinklenberg and Bob Anderson, the unendorsed Independence Party candidate, sparred mainly over the economy, although energy, the war in Iraq and the Stillwater lift bridge each garnered some attention.

The best line of the night came when Tinklenberg criticized Bachmann on her offshore and ANWR drilling proposals: “The strategy that she has proposed of ‘Drain America First’ is a bad strategy.”