The fun begins. Black's item, updated by him, excerpted by me, states:
Update: Tarryl Clark will run for Congress in Bachmann's district
By Eric Black | Published Wed, Jul 15 2009 10:46 am
Sen. Tarryl Clark has been telling people over recent days that she was heading that way, and now I'm confident that she will seek the DFL nomination for Congress to run for the seat held by arch-conservative Republican Michele Bachmann. I haven't been able to speak to Clark directly about it. But since I first posted this morning, I have spoken to more DFLers, with direct knowledge of her plans, who confirm that Clark is in the race for Congress and is assembling a campaign staff.
That is short of a "take it to the bank" report, but Black does not chase ghosts, and never has. He further explains and reports:
Clark authorized one of her political associates to convey this statement:"Sen. Clark is not ready to formally announce her candidacy for Congress from the Sixth District, but recently she has spent a great deal of time meeting with political leaders and key donors in the Sixth and across the state. She’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support she’s received. She knows how important it is to make a decision soon and wants to hit the ground running if she decides to run. She’ll formally announce her decision in the near future."
Tinklenberg won the DFL endorsement and nomination in 2008 but his campaign did not catch fire nor receive much attention until close to Election Day when Bachmann's crazy statements about Barack Obama being "anti-American" brought tremendous attention to the race and big money to the Tinklenberg campaign. Bachmann still won, by 46-43 percent, with the Independence Party nominee receiving 10 percent.
I spoke to Reed, who said Clark's entry would not change her plans in any way: "Our race is the same, regardless of who's in it." Reed will seek both endorsements. When I asked whether, if she loses the Dem endorsement, she would run in a primary, Reed said: "Plan A is to get the endorsement. Plan B is to make Plan A work."
After 2008, some DFLers concluded that if Bachmann couldn't be defeated in 2008, with Obama-mania elevating Dem turnout everywhere and with Bachmann creating a major embarrassment in the last days of the campaign, she might be unbeatable in the Repub-leaning district, at least until the district lines are redrawn, which will occur before the 2012 cycle. Clark apparently thinks otherwise.
Clark is an abortion rights supporter, which will make it easier for her to attract national Democratic financial support (Emily's List?), but could complicate her chances in the 6th District, which is the most anti-abortion of Minnesota's congressional districts.
Clark was encouraged to run by some Washington Democrats, who have grown skeptical of Tinklenberg's ability to win the seat.
Read the entire item, for full detail.
Ah, the smell of the horse barn is in the air, the "arch-conservative Republican Michele Bachmann" is the one below wearing the most restrictive blinders, and the tote board indicates that while her stakes-race record speaks for itself there is close betting on a pair of favorites, with one long shot handicapped as such on a record of inability to close in the stretch on a favorable track after the lead horse stumbled [and with no actual tote board because this is not an actual horse race, we use the current as of 7 pm, today's best surrogate, the vote-your-choice poll of the Political Muse (use that Crabgrass post for links)]:
photos from here, and here, via Google Images
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_______UPDATE_______
KSTP Channel 5, full story online here, as of Thurs. 8am, July 16 -- still not take it to the bank, Tarryl Clark WILL run, but similar to Black's report. This screenshot has the gist of KSTP's feature:
Dump Michele Bachmann reports on Black's MinnPost reporting; here, for that post and comments.
The Political Muse's latest poll results, as of Thurs. 8 am, July 16 (several days after the start of polling) still shows the Ten-percent Tinkster [of the middle part of the MN 6 district] doing better than the none-of-the-above "other" choice, but well behind officially announced Maureen Reed [of the east end of the MN 6 district], and as-yet unannounced Tarryl Clark [of the west end of the MN 6 district]; and you can keep updated as more people vote, via this link to the poll:
