Bachmann vs. Tinklenberg

Human Events, Sep 22, 2008

Minnesota's 6th U.S. House District

No sooner was the ink dry on her certificate of election in 2006 than Republican Michele Bachmann was destined to have to struggle to hold onto the House district she had just won. A strong, outspoken conservative who took Minnesota's 6th District by a margin of 50% to 42%, Bachmann was a natural to have a Democratic bull's-eye target on her back come '08. A pro-lifer who opposes abortion under all circumstances except to save the life of the mother, a tax attorney who jumped at the chance to sue the IRS, a champion of local education and charter schools who still calls for abolishing the Department of Education-Bachmann is a target, all right.

After voting her good-as-Goldwater conservative views in Congress for two years, the 51-year-old swashbuckler is back on the campaign trail. Democrats linked arms early around Elwin Tinklenberg, former mayor of Blaine, Minn., and state commissioner of transportation under Reform Party Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Tinklenberg's attacks on the congresswoman are predictable. As she put it, "He'll never say he favors abortion, just that 'Bachmann's against choice* or that he would not work to overturn Roe v. Wader Bachmann also says that she has signed and lived up to a pledge never to vote for a new tax or tax increase. Tinklenberg, she points out, has not only refused to sign the same pledge but oversaw higher taxes as mayor of Blaine.

As in many U.S. House districts these days, the debate in Minnesota's 6th District increasingly focuses on the issue of energy independence. Tinklenberg takes the Obama line opposing more drilling. Bachmann, however, not only embraces both more drilling and exploring new kinds of energy, but also pursues both causes with vigor. Earlier this year, the Minnesotan jetted with nine House colleagues to Alaska, where she actually toured the proposed drilling site in ANWR (the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge).

"My conclusion and that of my colleagues was that if we removed regulation and started drilling, oil would be flowing in ANWR within three years," said Bachmann, whose schedule in Alaska included a meeting with Gov. Sarah Palin (before Palin's explosion onto the national scene). "And if we don't do something, the oil we are already getting from Prudhoe Bay is going to dry up and we'll be in bigger trouble than we are now."

Bachmann returned home with even greater passion for the cause of increased drilling and appeared on Larry King Live, the BBC and Fox News to discuss it. She co-sponsored the "No More Excuses" legislation that included offshore drilling, ANWR, and exploring new sources of energy.

The contrast between the candidates in Minnesota's 6th District is vast. Not only on issues, but also in their approaches to issues are they poles apart. Tinklenberg criticizes, and Michele Bachmann is a doer-and a congresswoman of action.

(Michele Bachmann for Congress. P.O. Box 25950, Woodbury. Min. 55125; 651-735-7512;)