Bringing Down Bachmann
by Benjamin Sarlin
The far right’s star House member just hit the headlines with a rowdy health-care rally on Capitol Hill. Benjamin Sarlin reports on the Democrats lining up in Minnesota to send Michele Bachmann into early retirement.
Michele Bachmann took her paranoid campaign against the White House to new heights on Thursday, leading a mass protest inside the Capitol itself that led to multiple arrests. Antics like these have made her one of the breakout stars of the Republican Party in the Obama era, drawing praise from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and even George Will. But her stunts have also made what is otherwise a relatively safe Republican seat potentially vulnerable to Democratic takeover.
Her bid for reelection to a third term is still a year away. But two credible challengers have already emerged to vie for the Democratic nomination: physician Maureen Reed and State Senator Tarryl Clark.
Both are making Bachmann's extremist rhetoric the centerpieces of their campaigns.
“I think that elected officials have a high responsibility to dial down anger and to dial down fear,” said physician Maureen Reed, one of Bachman’s two Democratic challengers. “People don’t problem-solve very well when they’re really mad and really scared.”
“In the Republican Party, there is a pretty broad area that is mainstream, and then there are the fringes of the party,” Clark told The Daily Beast. “And then there's Michele.”In a separate interview, Reed repeatedly pledged to “dial down” the rhetoric from Bachmann's amped up levels.
Both candidates have so far proved capable fundraisers, setting up a tough battle for the chance to take on America's most notorious congresswoman. Clark, who announced her candidacy in July, reported raising over $300,000 by the end of September. Reed, who began her campaign earlier, raised $130,000 in the same period and has over $300,000 cash on hand. But the incumbent has far more money amassed, with over $600,000 cash on hand.
Although Minnesota's 6th District is solidly Republican, Bachmann has proved vulnerable in the past. Last year she barely won her second term against Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg 46 percent to 44 percent—even while voters went for John McCain over President Obama 53 percent to 45 percent. The race took place only days after she delivered a rant on MSNBC against “anti-American” lawmakers, including Obama, whom she said the press should investigate.
According to Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Minnesota's Carleton College, Bachmann's rhetoric is her biggest weakness.
“I think it's hurt her,” Schier said. “It means the district is not reliably safe for her as a result when I think it could be for another Republican who was less flamboyant.”
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