El Tinklenberg, the former Mayor of Blaine and Commissioner of Transportation, has decided to run for Congress. MN Publius’ feelings about El are well established:
El is announcing his candidacy Monday in Stillwater, Anoka and St. Cloud.
If you don’t know much about El, you can read this interview we did with him in 2006.
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We had that story 2 or 3 weeks ago on Dump Bachmann. The question is whether Tinklenberg will work to bring new people into the process? I can’t imagine him doing that.
It will be interesting to see if he repeats his statement that he would support a constitutional ban on gay marriage this time, or if he’s learned something from his press conference several years ago.
It will also be interesting to see what he says about the War in Iraq and the gas tax. He’s Oberstar’s hand-picked candidate - so will he be supporting Oberstar’s federal gas tax?
El Tinklenberg had a debate on Almanac this debate he had with David Morris about PRT… will Tinklenberg challenge http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/04/26_mccalluml_prt/ at a time when real transportation needs were neglected?
That was supposed to be…Bachmann’s support for faith-based transportation.
What did El Tinklenberg do to help our crumbling roads and bridges? He diverted $700 million away from roads and bridges to pay for the entertainment train that takes tourists from the airport to downtown Minneapolis and the rest of us to Twins and Vikings games. I’d love to run against his record on transportation issues.
If you’re talking about the Hiawatha LRT, you’re wrong. The LRT is very successful and Federal $$$ paid for most of it.
PRT on the other hand has been a huge flop for THIRTY YEARS and right-wingers like Krinkie, Emmer, Vandeveer and Mary Liz Holberg keep voting for bible-hurling Rep. Mark Olson’s PRT legislation.
Don’t you think it’s curious that right-wing Republicans like Bachmann don’t like to talk about their past support for PRT?
I’m looking forward to Tinklenberg (and Mn Publius) going after Bachmann on PRT. Don’t wait, do it now!!!
If Tinklenberg can portray himself as being at all bipartisan, this could be a race.
The challange to Michelle Bachmann will be her dismal voting record. Anyone can go to http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=54675 and see how she voted on key bills regarding SCHIP, Student Loan Reductions, Medicare Drug Costs, Minimum Wage, Educational, Enviornmental Issues and more.
If there be any member of Congress ill suited for a District it is Michelle Bachmann. All she is is a Bush Cheerleader. She has yet to face the rest of the constituency she says she serves and and explain her votes to them. Yet!! She sticks with her ultra conservative base. People in the 6th CD know how to read and what they are writing to the local papers is not nice. Letters to the Editor have not been kind to Bachmann.
The Democratic challanger to Bachmann needs to stress Accountability to all of the people within the 6th CD, even is that means taking criticism for votes. I do not think Michelle Bachmann has the cajones to face those who do not concur with her. There are many other constructive things Michelle Bachmann can be doing…being a Rep. in Congress IS NOT ONE OF THEM!!!!
Bachmann cannot be blamed for avoiding her constituents. You never know when the lesbians will trap her again in a bathroom. If only there were a republican man who liked to hover around bathrooms in Scandia.
Not a lot of rejoicing in my area…Tinklenberg joining the race does nothing for me. I’ll conitune to support candidates activists in the 6th recruited and not those recruited by the DCCC.
And who would these home-town heroes be?
I am not quite sure Tinklenbwerg is a strong enough candidate to challange Bachmann on the issues and her voting record.
GOP pundits in the 6th CD say that Bachmann will win re-election handily in 2008. The votes she has made against many in her district seem to have no affect at the moment on her. Time will tell as she makes more stupid decisions on key legislative votes.
Up until recently, I’ve been a lifelong resident of the 6th. I can without a doubt that the reason we have lost the seat time and time again is because of the sentiment expressed by Hal. I don’t care if its the locals or the people in the district who is responsible for finding a candidate who could actually win. What matters at this point is that the Dem. candidate is electable in the 6th… not the 5th.
Correction: “I can without a doubt say that…”
What a lot of us will call dumb decisions are what the electorate in the sixth might call noble stands against socialism (voting against SCHIP), wussies (voting against Student Loan reduction), A-rabs (voting to keep US troops in Iraq) and other dire threats to this country. I’m not saying that everyone in the sixth. But I am saying that while there is a group who will vote for Michelle no matter what, there isn’t a group that will vote for a DFLer no matter what.
Very true John. And either group makes as much sense as the other.
Tinklenberg is the best fit for a Democrat to win that seat from Bachmann. The crazy Jesus lady is vulnerable to a moderate Democrat.
Just Colin Peterson in the 7th and Oberstar in the 8th, Tinklenberg may not pass some left litmus test, but he fits the district and could run a good campaign. I believe he can draw the middle independent voters who didn’t vote for Wetterling. It will be much harder to paint El as a leftist than it was Patty. He will be a strong candidate and needs to run against the extremism of Bachmann’s record and philosophy. She does not fit the mainstream of opinion in the the 6th OR in Minnesota. it is always tough to defeat an incumbent but they are most vulnerable in their first election. GO El, GO!
The only way I can see Tinklenberg winning the 6th is if he is the Republican nominee. Seriously, that district is ruby red. Bachmann’s got a seat for life.
Rick=
I’m all for avoiding litmus tests, and I make no apologies for being the sort who will get behind a party nominee. Its just, with Tim Walz winning in the first without renouncing the fact that he is not going to try and criminalize abortion, and without saying something moronic about defending traditional marriage. Tim being Tim, this all came across as what it was: common sense and common decency.
While I’d love to win to sixth, and I think El can do it, I dislike that it seems we have to form ourselves so throughly to the worst parts of the sixth.
Tinklenberg will have to win the endorsement first - and from what I hear, that’s going to be a challenge, unless he does what Michele Bachmann did with the Republican endorsement - do grass roots organizing and pack caucuses.
Bachmann’s extremism was MOST evident when it comes to her attacks on gays. Patty Wetterling’s campaign put out press pieces that suggested that Wetterling had the same position Bachmann did on gay marriage in the final weeks of the campaign. It was silly - the damage had already been done by the direct mail campaign from the RCCC - and they defined the issue (which was scary bogey man of gay marriage) - rather than Wetterling defining the issue - which was writing discrimination into the constitution.
Walz won and Wetterling lost - Walz was direct - he said he had no problem with gays being able to participate in the institution of marriage which had done so much for him. Then it becomes end of story. Wetterling said different things to different audience and was never able to defend her position when Eric Black nailed her on it. Her campaign also returned a contribution to the Human Rights Campaign prior to the 6th CD convention. If Tinklenberg’s campaign had been on top of this one at the time, they’d have been able to take that advantage away from Wetterling.
The political calculus of elections calls for difficult decisions at times. There are times that as a progressive I must bow to realities of the election at hand. You can’t run an Ellison or a McCollum in the 6th and stand a chance of winning. You must have a candidate that appeals to working class independent voters and Reagan Democrats (I hate that term, but i can’t think of another way to describe them). Bachmann’s campaign did a great job of painting Patty as a radical feminist liberal, not true but it stuck.
Secondly, her race for the Senate put her behind in the important voter contacts that are a must in a Congressional race. You have to be at every parade and event you can to build that name/face recognition. By the time she switched races she was too far behind to run a winning campaign.
As for the wedge issues, I think the same sex marriage issue has lost it’s steam. I can’t for the life of me figure out how if my gay brother gets married to the person he loves it will affect my marriage of 30 years to my wife. Eva is right, it’s a human rights issue, one of equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law.
rick,
I wish Democrats had the courage to run on legalizing gay marriage and pulling out of Iraq in six months. Why don’t they?
Even after Patty started running in the 6th, she skipped many events she should have been going to. A democrat running in the 6th has to reach beyond traditional democratic constituencies - and that means make a point of going to Chamber of Commerce events. Patty did not do that.
Because they would probably lose.
Thank you Blogger — you are correct!
Tinkerbell is like a used car salesman — Mr. Slick. That will not sell with the people in the 6th congressional district. Even the Dems could see through him the last time around. Have you ever heard that you are judged by those you associate with? His association with Dan Erhart an Anoka County Commissioner will kill him in Anoka County. He is disliked by most.
Eva, do you really think Bob Olson has ANY chance to beat Elwyn in an endorsement race? Elwyn already has the support of half the delegates from last time… He went 7 ballots with “superstar” Patty Wetterling. Bob Olson is an Amateur running an even more amateur campaign.
I’m sorry, but 18 “key” endorsements doesn’t win anyone an endorsement. Besides the fact that INDIVIDUALS don’t “endorse” they “support.” Groups of people “endorse” like a non-profit, PAC etc…
Elwyn will win the endorsement and will surprise a lot of people with how well his campaign will be run and how his message of INDEPENDENT THINKING will have a true effect on the voters.
Go Elwyn, GO!
And how much of Bob Olson’s own money will he have to throw into this race? He certainly can’t fundraise…
EWA: Why not comment with your name attached?
I have no idea who will win DFL endorsement in the district. Whoever brings more of their supporters to the caucuses will win endorsement. That’s how Michele Bachmann won the Republican endorsement - is she packed the caucuses with her people.