Dump Bachmann went to the SD 51 convention in Blaine. Ken Avidor took video of Michele Bachmann speaking to the crowd. We hope to have that available later this week. One thing she made a point of saying was that Patty Wetterling had won Woodbury and some other small cities in Bachmann's district in 2004. Bachmann said she won those areas by more than 10 points when she won her elections in 2000 and 2002. She said that in those areas having a female candidate against Patty Wetterling would be an advantage. It's interesting that Republicans are under the impression that female candidates are a better idea in the 6th district. When I talked with a democratic consultant who had worked with both Janet Robert and Patty Wetterling, he mentioned that the perception of Janet Robert as an "aggressive woman" worked against Robert.
The congressional candidates and many of the party activists at the convention seemed to be under the impression that Patty Wetterling was going to win the nomination.
Michele also invited everyone to her 50th birthday party at the Senior Citizens center. This was being put on by her kids. She made some jokes about how women don't like people to know how old they are.
Jay Esmay spoke after Michele Bachmann. Esmay said that he was not a woman and wasn't 50.
I interviewed one of Michele's supporters (they were sitting at her table). This woman said she thought the top issue for a congresswoman was passing the marriage amendment. I asked her - are you sure - what about defending the country. She said that unless you defend the country from within, the country will go down the tubes - and said that historically that's been shown to happen. I think this person is supporting the right candidate for her views.
I was at lunch during Krinkie's speech. I heard Knoblach speak - and Knoblach took shots at both Michele Bachmann and Phil Krinkie.
Ken and I have interviews with Jim Knoblach and Phil Krinkie on tape. Those will get posted here later this week. I asked Krinkie to respond to Knoblach's hit piece. He said that he was concerned about some provisions in this bill that would put crimnet on the internet - and was concerned about hacking. He also mentioned that there was a fair amount of pork in the bill - and he felt that he could vote for a different version of the bill later.
I asked Knoblach about his appearance on the anti-activist video promoting the Bachmann amendment.
Jim Knoblach had a hard hitting piece attacking Phil Krinkie for his vote against Katie's law. It says: "Can we let the DFL make this comparison? Patty Wetterling vs Phil Krinkie" Then it has a photo of Patty Wetterling with the caption "Child Protection Advocate" vs "Dr No".
Avidor overheard Michele Bachmann's campaign manager telling Michele - "That's Ken Avidor - he's the one who does those photoshops of you."
Many of the participants at this convention were familiar with Dump Bachmann - and said they read it regularly and were looking forward to the report on the convention.
Brad Biers, Michele Bachmann's former campaign manager easily defeated Robyn West for endorsement for Andy Westerberg's seat in the state house.
Andy Aplikowski the district chair had a cow when he saw me. He told me that he would have me ejected from the convention if I caused any trouble. I told him I had no intention of causing any trouble. I had just come to observe the convention.
I would be very interested in hearing reports of other district conventions in the 6th district. |
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