Angle is also relatively unknown to the voters, so it makes sense to unleash a flurry of ads to try and emphasize her image as a nutjob. I doubt there are any voters in Bachmann’s district that are both interested enough in politics to vote in the midterms but aren’t already familiar with her various nutty statements and views.
I just saw Tarryl Clark’s commercial, it was ok, and I don’t believe any incumbent has given as much ammunition to her challenger as Mrs. Bachmann.
Her’s might be the only campaign where the rhetoric ISN’T as bad as the truth.
Recent HuffPost article:
Bachmann has the full advertising support of Fox news et al behind her, so it’s not surprising that she’s able to outpace Clark in fund-raising. Not that Clark isn’t pulling in non-district support, but it would be interesting to see a fund-raising map.
Man, I wouldn’t want to live in that district, with both candidates sitting on millions in a cheap market, every available surface is going to be coated with campaign commercials.
Anyhoo, here’s a poll that has Bachmann up by nine. Not an insurmountable lead, but not great for the challenger either.
There’s a segment of conservatives I call the “I got mine so screw you” contingent, and her district is full of them. There’s also a segment of MN conservatives that approve of every politician that says “Jesus” often enough, and Bachmann is really good at playing that card.
Tarryl Clark is having some Iced Tea Parties today around the district.
Good thing too, it’s gonna be hot and sticky today.
First, Bachman has never gotten even 50% of the vote. She wins because a third party candidate pulls enough votes away from the DFL candidate for her to scrape through.
Second, she vastly outspends her opponents. She pulls in money nationwide from rich, conservative Republicans, and so is able to overwhelm her opponents with advertising.
Third, she is in a suburban, conservative district. People who got their college education via government-guaranteed student loans, now live in their homes financed with government based mortgages, drive in to the city on government built freeways, and complain that ‘the government never does anything for me!’ These people just vote Republican without looking at the individual candidates.
Fourth, her district is tending more independent. But it isn’t helping her opponents. People living there don’t like to think of themself as supporting a political party, so they like to switch votes. So in 2008, many of them voted for Obama (D) for President, so on the next line they voted for Bachman (R) to balance that out.
Given all these factors, it will be really hard to defeat her in this district, even with an exceptional candidate like Tarryl Clark. Frankly, most of these elections were decided back after 2000 when a panel of judges set the boundaries of the Minnesota Congressional Districts. Only 1 of them has switched parties since then, and that took a real effort.
This year, it’s (again) Bob Anderson of the Independence Party, which in the past has been strong enough in Minnesota to elect a governor . . . but Anderson ran for the same seat in 2008 and only got 10% of the vote.
And they are usually called that by the “I want what you earned” contingent.
Yes, it’s a popular name for them all around.