Tuesday, August 4, 2009

MPR Polinaut: Tinklenberg drops Bachmann challenge

Posted at 11am. Read it. Now, at Polinaut.


http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2009/08/tinklenberg_dro.shtml


And post a comment there, too. They usually don't get many comments, at Polinaut.

Query: is this good news or bad news?

I know it's good news if you're a Tarryl Clark fan. Me: I have mixed feeling about it. Remember that the whole premise of a Tinklenberg candidacy was that he was "less liberal" than most Democrats. This was thought to be an advantage during a run against Bachmann in a congressional district dominated by conservative voters. The idea was that Tinklenberg, a Blue Dog, would run competitively than a more liberal DFL'r.

If it's Clark for the DFL--is she too liberal to win this conservative district? If you answer, remember to balance your political idealism with a healthy respect for the numbers of conservative and liberal voters in the district.

How about Reed? She has a couple of cards to play. Battle Clark for the DFL nod, or run as an Independent.

Who can cut into the 10% of voters that maverick candidate Bob Anderson netted in the last election? Anyone?

As for me: I'm grateful to ET for bowing out. I'm taking his stated reasons for doing so at face value: he wants to prevent a deadly fight between Dems next year--something that could only ensure Bachmann's re-election. We might end up with that kind of fight anyway, but at this writing I admire Tinklenberg for refusing to start it.

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