Tuesday, May 5, 2009

El Tinklenberg will also take on Michelle Bachmann


Photo by Aaron Landry

The second candidate to jump in against Bachmann in as many days is El Tinklenberg who has ran twice for the seat, in 2006 when he lost the DFL nod to Patty Wetterling and in 2008 when he won the DFL and IP nods but lost to Bachmann in the general. He has started calling local DFLers in the past days telling them he is in.

Tinklenberg has been mulling this over since his loss in November. He had over $452,898 in campaign funds left over at the end of his campaign and has been talking to local party officials, unions and the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national party outlet for electing Democrats to the House). Since the election he's donated over $250,000 of that to the DCCC and also sponsored the Humphrey Dinner. Previously he said he would make a announcement in July but I expect Reed's entrance sped up his entry.

Lots of district DFL activists didn't think Tinklenberg ran a good campaign last time around. To his credit he has acknowledged that he made mistakes and has said he will try to avoid the mistakes made in the 08 campaign but it remains to see what that means. He will have a uphill climb convincing many DFL activists that he will be able to run a stronger campaign this time around.

A third candidate is said to be considering the race. I haven't been able to confirm this but it is rumored to be Sen. Tarryl Clark. Whoever ends up the nominee will have a tough race ahead if we are going to dump Bachmann and I think these thoughts hold whoever it is. In addition it's extremely important that whoever wins the DFL nod articulates a clear, positive case for why they should be elected to Congress not just rely on being the anti-Bachmann.

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