Tarryl Clark Calls Out Michele Bachmann - and She Slinks Off the "Values Voters" Poll

Today, Michele Bachmann will appear on the presidential preference ballot at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC before jetting off to Miami to speak to the ultra right-wing fringe Taking America Back Conference.

Bachmann is campaigning for candidates throughout the nation. She's got a national PAC. She's visited Iowa multiple times. She's even got a fancy tour bus. It's like my grandma used to tell me: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Michele Bachmann is considering running for President.

Check out our latest video - and help us defeat Bachmann now before it's too late!



While Michele Bachmann continues her "Everywhere But Here" tour, Tarryl is working tirelessly and is waging an unprecedented campaign. We've made tens of thousands of voter contacts, set fundraising records, hit the airwaves, and earned support from organizations representing over 100,000 voters in the 6th district.

It's thanks to you that we're in such a strong position heading into the final weeks. You know that a victory over Michele Bachmann here in Minnesota is a victory for the entire nation.

Now the "tip of the spear", Michele Bachmann is called out, and pulls herself out of the "Values Voters" Presidential Straw Poll.

Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has worked to keep the focus off any potential political aspirations beyond her current job, even as she became a national tea party celebrity and an influential conservative group put her on its list of potential 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls.

On Friday, she no longer wanted to be on that list.

Bachmann withdrew from the Values Voter straw poll and flew home after delivering a rousing speech to the conference in Washington. A spokesman said she pulled out because her focus is on her district, not running for president. Bachmann became the second Minnesota Republican to drop off the straw poll, joining likely presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, the state's governor, in removing her name.

"Her sole focus is representing the constituents of the 6th District of Minnesota," Bachmann spokesman Sergio Gor said. "She is proudly running to serve again in Congress and is not running for president."

Democratic challenger Tarryl Clark sought to make the most of Bachmann's inclusion in the straw poll, sending supporters an e-mail asking, "What's she running for?" Clark's campaign also posted a web video questioning whether Bachmann intends to run for president. Clark has sought to portray the incumbent as more focused on her own future than on her district.

Their contest in the Twin Cities suburbs and St. Cloud area is one of the nation's most expensive House races.

At the Values Voter event, Bachmann delivered a crowd-pleasing speech, calling the tea party "the largest political movement that we have seen in modern times." She said she is "giddy" for a change of power in November.

"If you are scared of the tea party movement, you are afraid of Thomas Jefferson, who penned our mission statement. And by the way, you may have heard of it _ it's called the Declaration of Independence," Bachmann said.