Pat Doyle in the Star Tribune, excerpt:
...Tinklenberg said he welcomed the chance of running once more against Republican incumbent Michele Bachmann, but "the path to that campaign is becoming increasingly improbable..."
Bill Salisbury in the PiPress fleshes it out a bit:
"Maureen Reed has done well, and I suspect that Tarryl will be able to easily raise money," said Bill McCarthy, president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and a DFL activist from Blaine. "So El was in a difficult spot."
Moreover, McCarthy, who backed Tinklenberg in 2008, said he had told the candidate that unlike last year, he would not get early labor support this time. He said most unions wouldn't endorse a candidate before the DFL convention next spring.
But Monday night, just hours before Tinklenberg's announcement, a large and politically active union, AFSCME Council 5, endorsed Clark. The union represents 43,000 public and nonprofit workers, including 5,000 members in the 6th District.
A-ha. The unions used to be Tink's turf. That loss was probably a death blow. But we also have this, from the same story, very important right now:
Reed has not agreed to abide by the endorsement. She issued a statement praising Tinklenberg but could not be reached for further comment.
Doug Grow, in the MN Post, drops Bachmann's name into a headline to a story about a different congressional race (in order to get me to read it.) But he makes the following observation about the 6th District race:
(Maureen)Reed, who ran as an Independence Party candidate for lieutenant governor in 2006, would seem to have an uphill struggle to gain endorsement but might be able to do well in a DFL primary if she can also gain IP endorsement.
If Reed was to try that, she'd be trying to do the same thing that Tink did in the last race. The Tink strategy was to get the DFL nod, and a cross-endorsement from the IP. And he got the DFL nod and a cross party endorsement from the IP. Unfortunately, the IP leadership wasn't able to deliver enough voters to the Tinklenberg candidacy and a maverick unendorsed IP candidate took ten per cent of the independent votes in the district. (Despite the opposition of the IP leadership.)
Tink lost narrowly despite putting the cross party endorsement deal together. If he'd pulled even three per cent of the independent votes--it would have been a photo-finish with Bachmann. But maybe Reed thinks she can pull off what Tink couldn't pull off.
Fox News Channel 12 in Mankato (KEYC): Nothing we haven't heard.
T.W. Budig for ECM Newspapers: Long article, lots of quotes from Tink, Reed, Clark and a Republican spokesman. But to me, here's what mattered most:
Clark said she would abide by the DFL endorsement.
A campaign spokeswoman for Reed did not give a definite answer on whether Reed, who has shown an ability to raise campaign contributions, would abide or not.
An Examiner piece praising Tink for his decision.
Paul Demko's piece in MN Independent focuses on Clark more than Tink and has this quote from her:
“What I keep hearing from people is they’re worried about their jobs, they’re worried about losing their house, they’re worried about escalating health-care costs,” she said. “Those are the issues that aren’t just being addressed right now by our current representation.”
"...worried about losing their house..." My mantra, and a potential big tent issue that Tink didn't exploit in the last campaign. The rate of home foreclosures in Bachmann's district has been a disgrace (the highest in MN), and she's done nothing to assuage this very real and chronic problem. It's an issue that every voter in the 6th District can relate to, Dem, Republican, whatever.
From a blog for moderates, centrists, and independents--"The Moderate Voice." Writer Jazz Shaw (really, that's the name) opines:
Apparently, there were enough Democrats interested in sending Michele a one way ticket back to Crazytown that Tinklenberg didn’t want to be involved in the internecine bloodbath.
Okay, that's enough for now. Everybody and his little dog is running a story on this. If you saw an account with an interesting fact or quote that I missed here--please send it in.
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