MN Progressive Project’s Bill Prendergast is despondent about the chances of Michele Bachmann’s newest challenger, Anne Nolan:

A “heavy lift?” For a liberal or progressive Democrat, the Sixth District is “the gravity on Jupiter,” dammit.

“If [Bachmann] wants to say we’re radical,” Nolan says of the 99%, “let’s have that conversation.”

What “conversation”? In the grand scheme of things, the conservatives of Minnesota’s Sixth District rate progressives just below “demons” (which many of them believe in.)

I wish Ms. Nolan all the best, I really do. If she can pull this off, it would be fantastic.  But I have to advise DFLers and progressives not to pour a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the CD6 race (not to mention money). It’s time to forget about Michele Bachmann and focus on more important races.

As Prendergast points out, Bachmann has always won handily against whoever the DFL throws at her. Now, after redistricting, CD6 is even redder than it was before. That’s fantastic for us — it clumps the most conservatives voters together, making other districts more favorable for the DFL. But to take advantage of that, we need to finally learn to ignore Michele Bachmann.

Well, we had been wondering what Michele Bachmann would do; now we have our answer.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Wednesday she will seek a fourth term in the U.S. House following her failed presidential bid.

Bachmann declared her plans in an interview with The Associated Press. The Republican congresswoman had been mum on her plans since folding her presidential campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month.

It’s probably the best choice for her. The polls make it clear that nobody can take on Klobuchar, and it appears a Fox News gig is not in the offing for Bachmann. If she has her sights set on something bigger and better, she can always throw her hat into the ring to face Al Franken in 2014.

This seems like a good time to make a plea to Democrats. Please, please, please let’s not spend millions of dollars trying to defeat Bachmann again. I know she’s a crazy right-wing extremist. But unless CD6 becomes significantly less conservative after redistricting, she’s proven by now that she’s not easily dislodged.

The fact is, there are better ways we can spend our money. We have to take back the legislature and defeat multiple constitutional amendments. Please don’t be distracted; let’s leave CD6 alone for a while and focus our efforts on more useful pursuits.

Lord help us. Minnesota’s original Tea Party Republican, Michele Bachmann, has announced that she’s running for president. It has to sting a bit that ABC News calls her Palin 2.0; she was doing the crazy hyper-conservative thing long before it was trendy.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about Bachmann. I’ve always had trouble taking her seriously, from her constant false statements to her denial of certain basic realities. For example, Bachmann, a former tax lawyer, doesn’t even seem to understand how taxes work.

My initial thought was that Bachmann’s run would at least allow us to find a new representative for the sixth district. Sadly, though, the filing deadline isn’t until June 2012, which makes it pretty likely that once the nomination is settled, she’ll still be able to run for House again.

Maybe by some fluke, she’ll manage to win the nomination. That would be a true blessing, both assuring Barack Obama a victory in 2012 and allowing us to replace her in the House. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Sad news, everybody. Michele Bachmann’s Fake Jim has left us. It’s not completely clear why, but my best guess is that it’s because Fake Jim is misleading voters:

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the GOP’s leading anti-tax champions, scored political points in a recent ad accusing DFL challenger Tarryl Clark of voting to raise the state sales tax on corn dogs and just about anything else covered by Minnesota’s 2008 conservation “legacy” amendment.

But the attack came as a surprise to a number of leading sportsmen’s groups whose leaders had long counted Bachmann as a supporter of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, a measure overwhelmingly approved by voters two years ago.

Whatever the reason, we’ll miss you, Fake Jim.

How do conservatives today get away with saying so many things that are not only outrageous and insulting, but demonstrably false? You would think that eventually the voting public would get tired of being lied to and make their displeasure known. But people like Michele Bachmann are allowed to get away with incendiary rhetoric like this…

Taxpayer money will essentially be laundered through the public employee unions, and spent to reelect those same Democrats this fall

…even though it’s a complete lie.

[T]he bill expressly states that the education funding must “be used only for awards to local educational agencies for the support of elementary and secondary education… for the 2010-2011 school year.” The legislation also states that the money can be used only to pay school employees who would otherwise be laid-off or to rehire employees.

…Bachmann is wrong to say that the state aid will be “laundered” through public employee unions and used to help reelect Democrats. In fact, the bill is clear that the money can only be used to keep teachers on the payroll.

Tell Michele Bachmann that we won’t get away with lying to Minnesotans to earn points with the Tea Party. Want to know the best way to send her that message? Visit Tarryl Clark’s website and make a donation today.