Elwyn Tinklenberg makes his pitch to the Daily Kos

...and gets a very positive reaction, for the most part. I'm writing this shortly after midnight, Minnesota time. In the "Recommended Diaries" section of the Kos (one of the most widely read political blogs in the United States) is piece by Elwyn himself, announcing his run against Bachmann.

It's generated 225 comments so far; a respectable total. And diaries don't get elevated to the coveted "Recommended Diaries" list without the intervention of Kos staffers, so they are paying attention, too. (Wrong, according to Karl in our comments thread.)

Tinklenberg aide Dana Houle is in the comments thread to the Tinklenberg announcement, fielding the occasional question from commenters. Most of the comments are quite supportive, some Kos readers are even donating money to Elwyn on the strength his announcement on the blog. As you may know, the Kos readership and other liberal/progressive blogs did an outstanding job raising funds for Tinklenberg in the final weeks of his last contest with Bachmann. Donations were received in small amounts from regular folks who hailed from every state in the union.

The incident that triggered the donations was not something Tinklenberg did. It was something Michele Bachmann did: her appearance on Chris Matthew's Hardball news show. When she called for a media investigation of her fellow congressmen and senators to check for anti-Americanism, the outrage at the Kos and other blogs was palpable--and readers reached for their checkbooks and credit cards.

Tinklenberg is an intelligent politician. So his diary in the Kos does not contain his other announcement: that he does not intend to abide by the decision of the DFL in the primary, if they do not select him to run against Bachmann. Pointing *that* out, would cause some people on the Kos to put away their checkbooks and credit cards--and generate quite a bit of hate mail in the comment thread, I suppose.

I doubt that very many of the commenters on the Kos tonight are from Minnesota. Their contempt for Bachmann and kooky lies is obvious, but so is their lack of knowledge about the strange election dynamics we have here in the Sixth District. A few commenters are critical of Tinklenberg, but that seems to be because he's a Blue Dog or because he failed to beat an obvious kook, despite all the help he received last time.

None of the Tinklenberg criticisms so far cite his "I'm going to ignore the Dem decision on the nominee, unless it's me" stand. None of the more than two hundred comments so far explain the possible consequences of that decision or the effect of the independence voters on the election.

Neither Tinklenberg nor Dana Houle seem inclined to mention those unpleasant realities to Kos readers tonight. I'm not wading into that comment thread to explain those issues either, because it's entirely possible that ET may end up being the Dem nominee again and I'm certainly not going to be the one to try to discredit a likely Dem candidate.

Tinklenberg and his managers have obviously decided to go after the netroots support now, before Clark officially announces. That's probably wise, from the ET camp's point of view. Though Clark has filed, she hasn't "rolled out" yet--and a strong show of financial and moral support from the netroots is going to be critical for any Dem candidate hoping to defeat Bachmann.

We can't blame Kos readers and editors for being naive or ill-informed about the election dynamics of the Sixth District of Minnesota. Bachmann's craziness makes headlines around the country, the election dynamics of the Sixth District don't. I would wager that most Minnesotans who live in and outside the Sixth District don't understand why a Bachmann victory is the statistical way to bet. Most of the Minnesota political press doesn't bother to explain how the different political interests in the district can generate a Bachmann plurality despite the awful state of her district. If most of the local reporters don't know or report, how could people outside the state understand?

I have explained election dynamics on the Kos before, but I'm just another diarist there--one of thousands. A *very* good day for one of my articles on the Kos generates only from ninety to a hundred comments, nothing like the attention that Tinklenberg is receiving tonight. Even if the Kos community doesn't have all the information it needs to make a good decision about which candidate to support, its heart is in the right place: they know what Bachmann is, and they want to help us get rid of her.

Dana Houle Comments at Minnesota Progressive Report

Dana Houle, Tinklenberg's campaign manager answered questions about the upcoming 2010 6CD race in this post.

Some of the comments were about candidates not abiding by the endorsement.

Taxpaying Liberal is not happy about it:

I'll tell you who feels strongly about the endorsement since you're not from Minnesota,

It's the people who leave their home on a Tues night in the middle of winter to attend a caucus for 3 hours, Then the spend a full day on one of the first spring Saturdays to attend a convention, Then they spend another full Saturday at the district convention, Then they spend a lot of time on weekends and evenings working for the candidate they endorsed. After the election they still meet once a month or more until the cycle starts again. Most of them pay for the privilege.

I guess those are the DFLers who feel strongly about the endorsement.

I agree with Taxpaying Liberal, endorsement may not be important for the average voter, but party activists... the people who volunteer in campaigns, care a lot about endorsements for the reasons TL mentioned.

On a personal note, I don't see any point in blogging at Dump Bachmann if the opposition candidates spend more time and resources running against each other. It's a waste of my time.

The Big E Interviews Tinklenberg Campaign Manager Dana Houle

The Big E interviewed Dana Houle - read it at DKos, cross-posted at Minnesota Campaign Report. Houle is optimistic that Tinklenberg can defeat Bachmann (I suggest reading the entire post).

DB reader Anna thinks Bachmann willl be defeated... but not by Tinklenberg:

Bachmann is done. The only thing left is for the Democrats to fight over who gets the seat, and it looks like Clark will get the prize.

The parallels with McCarthy's career are uncanny, and whoever runs against Bachmann only needs to set up a series of TV ads that place Bachmann next to McCarthy (clips of McCarthy with his "anti-American" rants followed by Bachmann with her nearly exact same rhetoric).

William Proxmire ran on a message of McCarthy as a "a disgrace to Wisconsin, to the Senate and to America." The candidates running against Bachmann have already started that same campaign.

Like Bachmann, McCarthy's speeches on the floor were delivered to an empty or near-empty chamber (we've been seeing this for a long time now with Bachmann). Her peers don't want to be seen with her. Her own Republican peers tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to back off on her census nutwhackery.

From Wiki:

"After his censure, McCarthy continued senatorial duties for another two and a half years, but his career as a major public figure had been unmistakably ruined. His colleagues in the Senate avoided him; his speeches on the Senate floor were delivered to a near-empty chamber or were received with conspicuous displays of inattention.[100] The press that had once recorded his every public statement now ignored him, and outside speaking engagements dwindled almost to nothing."

Bachmann hasn't officially been censured, but effectively has been censured in the press.

Her only platform now is extreme right media, and speaking engagements with extreme right groups. I'm not sure she'd even be welcome at the local Chamber of Commerce these days.

What do you think?

UPDATE: El Tinklenberg sent out email about the 2010 election (PiPress):

Last November I came within three points of being elected to Congress. It was a tough campaign, and early on it was hard to convince many people that I had a chance to win. I was running against an incumbent member of Congress in a district with a history of supporting Republicans. But by coming within three points, we showed we could make this a competitive race, and that I can win.
The national parties have noticed how close I came last year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has listed this race as one of their top eight pick-up opportunities. And just last week the National Republican Congressional Committee acknowledged that Michele Bachmann is one of their most vulnerable incumbents.

I've thought a lot about the last campaign, and have sought guidance and insight from many wise and experienced people. I have learned a lot, I have become a better candidate, and I am using what I've learned to assemble a team and to run a campaign that can win next November. I will tell you more about my campaign over the next few days, but I have hired a campaign manager who's run two straight winning campaigns against incumbent Republican members of Congress, and a team of consultants who over the last two elections have helped defeat dozens of incumbent Republican members of Congress.

The Sixth District of Minnesota needs better representation in Congress. In my professional life, as a minister, as a mayor, as a leader in transportation, I've worked to bring people together and build on our common interests and foster trust and cooperation. Michele Bachmann acts in opposition to those principles, and instead seeks to divide people, to spread cynicism, and instill distrust and exploit differences and fear. I have a record of accomplishments, while she has a history of embarrassments. We need someone in Congress who will serve the people of Central Minnesota, and not a small radical fringe motivated by distrust and fear.

In the last two elections eight Democrats who had previously lost to a Republican incumbent were elected to Congress. I intend to speak with each of these eight members of Congress, to learn from them, and apply the lessons they learned with what I've learned from my last campaign. I'm determined to build a great campaign operation, to work tirelessly, and to take the fight to Michele Bachmann and never let up. I am running for Congress against Michele Bachmann, and I'm running to win.