MN: Bachmann challenger picks up Independence Party endorsement
11:08 AM
In Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is facing a challenge from the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party's Elwyn Tinklenberg. Last weekend the state's Independence Party also backed Tinklenberg's bid, a development that one liberal Minnesota blogger calls "a very big development."
Blogger Christopher Truscott interviewed Tinklenberg campaign manager Anna Richey and DFL communications director John Stiles about the news. Here's an excerpt from the Richey interview:
CT: Peter Hutchinson, Dean Barkley and others said the IP has the "balance of power" in the district based on the 2006 results. What do you all expect to get from the party?Read the whole interview
AR: The IP has their own network and it is stronger in the sixth than other places around the State. We anticipate having support from their individual members, certainly, but the most important thing they are giving El through their endorsement is credibility to his message of coalition-building and working across party lines. It will be much harder to frame him as a "far-left-liberal" with 2/3 of the major parties in the state endorsing him.
