Elwyn Tinklenerg has withdrawn his bid in the race for Michele Bachmann's seat in congress. Tinklenberg had run against Bachmann last time around, and carried out what started as a rather Quixotic race against the then very entrenched Bachmann, but received a great deal of extra funding and support when Bachmann made a name for herself by calling for an investigation for un-American activities of everyone in congress who disagreed with her. But that push, as substantial as it was, came to late in the game, and Bachamann does represent a district consisting primarily of Cave Men and Tray-Lor Trash (I spelt that funny so as they coudn't make nothin out), and so in a sense, she represents her district rather well.
This blog got really mad at Tinklenberg the other day, and issued an un-endorsement after he made the totally dumb-ass move of stating that if he does not get the DFL endorsement he would stay in the race anyway. This is a totally dumb-ass thing the Minnesota "Democratic Party" (the DFL) does. They have nine or ten things that are like primaries or caucuses in row, leading up to a moment in which they endorse a candidate, then they have two or three more primaries, then whoever wants to can pretend to be the Democratic candidate and run in the official election. Or something like that. The result is that for important races you often get two Democrats running against each other, so the Republican or Indy candidate wins almost any time.
This is said to be the greatest election system ever invented by the Republican Party, and is the main reason there are ever any Republicans from this state at all. (Most of our governors have been Republican, for instance.)
From the Minnesota Independent:
"This is obviously not an easy decision for me, but I have come to the conclusion that it's the right one," Tinklenberg said in a statement. "While the image of the next campaign against Michele Bachmann is certainly energizing, the path to that campaign is becoming increasingly improbable."
The most likely DFLers (Democrats) to go up against Bachmann at the moment are probably Tarryl Clark or Maureen Reed, both well established politios.
Clark is the State Senator from District 15, which lies within the Sixth Congressional District, and includes the strategic community of Saint Cloud. She is majority leader with for the DFL in the Senate. I believe she leans liberal, and is very involved in (and trained in) education. Being linked to Saint Cloud is good, but politically, that region is marginally more liberal than the rest of the district. On the other hand, Tinklenberg was ineffective as a candidate even though he was a man of the cloth and had been mayor of Blaine, which is a more conservative part of the district.
Reed is an MD and former University Regent, which may put her at a distinct disadvantage in the anti-intellectual and anti-University Sixth District. She ran as Lieutenant Governor with Paul Hutchinson in 2006, and as such, contributed significantly to the election of Republican Tim "I don't care about no stinkin' bridge inspections" Pawlenty. I certainly hope Reed has the intelligence to step aside from the race if she is not endorsed by the party. Her track record as a member of the Independence Party, which I prefer to refer to as the Party of the Whining Selfish Clueless, does not bode well. Otherwise I think I like Reed. But I want to see her position on the process before I even consider supporting her.
Both potential candidates have a lot of experience in politics and dealing with important issues, but relatively little experience in elected office, which is probably a plus. Both are not insane, which is probably a plus (although the Sixth District did, in fact, elect Michele Bachmann a couple of times so ...)
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Maureen Reed has a good chance at the endorsement from the DFL.
My read on the situation is that it's a dead heat between Clark and Reed. It's a long way off from the endorsement and Reed is working doubly hard at getting it, while bringing in great in-state fund raising numbers.
In my opinion, Reed is the best candidate. She's not tied to an extremely partisan voting record, she's an expert in health care and education and she's able to speak plainly and clearly on many topics. I really do hope she gets the nomination in the end.
Also, she's stated many times that her plan is to go for the endorsement. Or to quote her "Plan A is to get the endorsement. Plan B is to figure out a way to make plan A work."
Getting the endorsement is her only plan.