The news just keeps getting worse for Michele Bachmann.
Her McCarthyite rant on Hardball, in which she encouraged the media to sort out the "pro-America" congressmembers from the "anti-America" ones, netted her opponent El Tinklenberg an astounding $450,000 in just 24 hours as part of a backlash from DailyKos and the rest of the progressive community. It earned her the specific rebuke of Colin Powell as part of his endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday. It forced her to attempt, far too late, to put the genie back in the bottle and distance herself from George Bush. Nice try, but no cigar.
And now Bachmann has two more pieces of very unwelcome news.
First, the DCCC has taken notice and decided to up the ante in a big way by spending $1 million on the race:
The race for the 6th District just keeps getting bigger and more national. Thanks Michele Bachmann!
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will spend more than $1 million in TV ads against Rep. Bachmann, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The race is getting newfound national attention after Bachmann asked the media to investigate members of Congress with anti-American views.
Keep in mind that Tinklenberg only trailed Bachmann by a measly 4 points in a poll conducted prior to her execrable rant on Hardball, and that Bachmann's incumbent number was at a shockingly low 42%. Keep in mind also that Tinklenberg's own website today says he trails Bachmann in cash on hand by only a few hundred thousand dollars. The DCCC's million dollar infusion into this race will give him over a half-million cash on hand advantage heading into the final fortnight before the election, allowing him to ride the momentum wave, present himself to thousands of voters, and show Bachmann at her worst in ad after ad throughout the district.
The second piece of bad news for Bachmann is that her Republican primary opponent Aubrey Immelman has decided to resurrect his campaign as a write-in candidate:
Aubrey Immelman, who mounted an unsuccessful Republican primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, said today he will file to run as a write-in candidate for the 6th Congressional District in the Nov. 4 election.
Immelman, a professor of political psychology at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, said he decided to run a write-in campaign after becoming upset at Bachmann’s comments on a cable talk show Friday...
He said he intends to offer himself as an "alternative for disillusioned Republicans" who cannot bring themselves to vote for DFL- and Independence Party-endorsed candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg or for Bob Anderson, the titular Independence Party candidate.
Immelman's primary challenge to the incumbent Bachmann earned him 14% support on election day--not a bad tally for an underfunded. intra-party anti-incumbent run. That's a significant show of anti-Bachmann sentiment among the Republican faithful. Immelman is no doubt trying to set himself up to be the most serious Republican challenger to Tinklenberg, should Bachmann be defeated. More power to him, especially as he's being politically savvy, and clear about the strategy heading into November 4th:
He says the one thing he will not do is ask Democrats to vote for him. He says he wants his candidacy to be a Republican referendum on Bachmann and the direction the party has taken the country.
It's hard to know just how much difference Immelman's move may or may not make in the long run, but it may give an easy out to many Republicans (at least to the 14% of Immelman's voters) who cannot see themselves voting for the Democrat, but who are also appalled at Bachmann's outrageous conduct.
No matter what, though, a DCCC-supported cash-on-hand advantage for Tinklenberg, combined with a renewed effort by Immelman, means only bad news for Bachmann in the coming days.
Throw her an anvil. Remember that this isn't just about the representation of MN-06, or even about whether Bachmann is tossed out of office now, or after redistricting. This is about making sure that McCarthyite Republicans throughout the country know what sort of price they'll pay from pro-American voters throughout this country for using their special brand of divisive rhetoric. This is about sending a message. Donate to Tinklenberg today.