One candidate’s gaff can be another candidate’s godsend.
Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, is doing frantic damage control in the wake of a bumpy appearance on “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
Meanwhile, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Bachmann’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor opponent, is faced with the welcome problem of spending millions of unexpected dollars that have come his way.
This turn of events began Friday when Bachmann, who is 42 and completing her first term in Congress, decided to fill a seat on Hardball, perhaps a decision she regrets.
She used her time on air to launch an attack upon Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, saying he “may have anti-American views.”
She also faulted Obama for associating with people, such as former Weather Underground member William Ayers, who have “over-the-top Anti-American views.”
Later in the interview, Matthews asked Bachmann, “how many … members of Congress are in that anti-American crowd you describe?”
Bachmann didn’t answer the question, but after some back and forth with Matthews she suggested that reporters might take up the subject.
“I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?” Bachmann said. “I think people would be - would love to see an expose like that.”
Quickly posted on YouTube, the interview created a firestorm in the blogosphere with supporters of Obama comparing Bachmann to the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a man who questioned the patriotism of many people in the government in the 1950s.
Bachman has since pulled back on her comments, saying she was “trapped” by Matthews and that she did not question Obama’s patriotism and that she did not say that he is anti-American.
Regardless, the controversy over her remarks has been a boost to Tinklenberg’s formerly long-shot campaign.
Since Friday, more than $1.3 million in contributions has flowed into the campaign from 20,000 donors throughout the country. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also sending $1 million Tinklenberg’s way.
“It’s been raining money,” the campaign’s finance director told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s so much, we can barely keep up.”
Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee has pulled back money it had intended to spend on Bachmann’s campaign.
This summer, things looked much different in the race for the Sixth Congressional District, a Republican area that includes the northern suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as the city of St. Cloud.
Polls favored Bachmann, a lawyer and former member of the Minnesota State Senate who has long been active in the anti-abortion movement, just as she has opposed gay marriage.
While in Congress, Bachmann has served on one committee, the Financial Services Committee. In March, she introduced the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, an attempt to overturn current regulations that call for the phasing out of conventional light bulbs.
Tinklenberg, 58, an ordained Methodist minister, is the former Minnesota commissioner of transportation, having served in the administration of Gov. Jesse Ventura. He is also the former mayor of Blaine, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb with a population of 55,415.
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