Lost amid the Ron Paul delegates grabbing RNC delegate slots at the GOP’s recent Sixth Congressional District convention was this strange development: Republican Party officials banned video cameras and audio recording equipment at the convention, including journalists’ equipment.

St. Cloud Times Executive Editor John Bodette wrote about it in a Sunday column.

He explains that the local GOP executive committee wanted to prevent critics of Rep. Michele Bachmann from shooting video and misusing it, and it wanted to protect nervous delegates and others speaking at the convention from being recorded saying things they might regret having said.

I can’t recall a convention of any party — major or minor — instituting such a rule.

Just a hunch, but something tells me the Republican National Committee won’t be banning video and audio equipment when Sen. John McCain gives his acceptance speech at the national convention in the Xcel in September.

Minnesota Democrats yesterday swiped at two Republicans for voting against a $105.6 billion bill that included funding for the I-35W bridge.

The Republicans — U.S. Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachmann — said they voted “no” because the bill contains excessive spending, which President Bush has threatened to veto.

Rep. John Kline

Is the Democrats’ criticism fair? Are Kline and Bachmann guilty of failing to deliver on their pledges to ensure rapid federal assistance for the bridge reconstruction, as Democrats allege?

Or are Kline and Bachmann showing strong spines — standing on the principle of containing federal spending, while knowing that their votes would open them to easy criticism?

Here’s Washington correspondent Kevin Diaz’s story. Among other things, it points out that Kline and Bachmann have signed onto a separate bill for the bridge funding.

Here’s what the DFL chair, Brian Melendez, said in a press release:
“We’ve gotten pretty used to Michele Bachmann and John Kline putting President Bush and special interests ahead of our state’s most urgent needs, but this vote goes beyond ridiculous — it’s callous. After all the lip service they’ve given to those projects, including the Northstar rail line in Bachmann’s own district, you’ve got to be kidding.
“Their mindless, lock-step partisanship and blind loyalty to a failed president is breathtaking. There’s no other way to put this: Michele Bachmann’s and John Kline’s hypocrisy is an embarrassment to Minnesota.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Here are some other things to consider. In voting “no,” Bachmann not only voted against the bridge funding, but also against funding for a couple projects in her own district — for the Northstar commuter line and for a bus system. Does that give her immunity to the DFL charges?

For another perspective, here are some of the things that Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., celebrated in the bill — some in his First District, some nationwide:

First Distrtict
$500,000 for Hwy. 14 from Waseca to Owatonna.
$350,000 for Hwy. 14 from North Mankato to New Ulm.
$300,000 for a MnDOT garage facility in Albert Lea.

Nationwide
$40.2 billion for maintaining or improving highways.
$9.65 billion for commuter or light rail.
$65 million above the president’s request for next-generation air traffic control technology.
$10 million to help small communities attract commercial air service.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., says the bill is not a budget-buster, because the Democratic Congress is adhering to the pay-as-you go rule — offsetting spending increases in one area with spending cuts in another.

But the Wall Street Journal reports in this story today about the spending battle between Bush and the Democrats: “The measure, which adds $3 billion in discretionary appropriations above President Bush’s budget requests, reflects a 6% increase in overall spending for the new fiscal year that began Oct. 1.”

So, who do you think is playing politics here?

We’ve posted a new Pig’s Eye Podcast this morning, which you can listen to here.

Bachmann on Election Night

In this podcast, we discuss:

Mike Ciresi escalating his criticism of Al Franken for being a late convert to opposing the Iraq war. You can read Pat Lopez’s story about this change of tone in the U.S. Senate race here. And you can join a discussion on the issue at The Big Question blog here.

Whether Michele Bachmann made a strategic error by asking TV stations to pull an ad critical of her over the children’s health insurance program. Here’s Kevin Diaz’s story about the flap. Also, there’s been a lively discussion in a posting I did on the controversy last week, asking whether the ad was fair or not. Here’s the post.

Iowa Republicans’ decision to move their caucuses up to Jan. 3, when voters will have barely recovered from New Years Eve celebrations, and when the campaigns will have to find a way to get people’s attention during the holiday season. Here’s our story when the new date was announced.

The TV ad running against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, and her efforts to get it yanked, raise a number of issues that will become increasingly familiar over the next 12 months.

Let’s start with the content of the ad. You can see it here. And here is Kevin Diaz’s story about the flap.

It’s a cookie-cutter ad — the same images and script running in a number of congressional districts, with just the photos and names of the local target spliced in. Because they’re one-size-fits-all, these types of ads tend to level broad criticisms, rather than deal with a lot of specifics.

Generally, they go light on facts and heavy on conclusions. The facts usually are accurate — mostly because the organization behind the ads can cite a select few votes or a handful of donations from interest groups that they claim prove their point.

In this case, the underlying fact is true — that Bachmann opposed the Democratic plan to increase funding for the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. She voted against it.

But the ad says that Bush vetoed the bill (true) and then says that Bachmann “voted with him.” Is that misleading? Does it imply that Bachmann voted to uphold the president’s veto? The attempt to override the veto hasn’t happened yet.

The ad states that Bachmann “would rather send half a trillion to Iraq than spend a fraction of that here at home to keep our kids healthy.”

Since she’s been in Congress, Bachmann has supported the war funding. But as she points out, she’s voted for only a small part of the “half a trillion” mentioned in the ad.

Do you think that statement about what she “would rather” do is fair?

All of that, of course, leads to the next issue: What role should the TV stations — and other media — play in deciding whether this, or any other ad, is accepted?

Bachmann is, essentially, asking the stations to referee the dispute. Should they? If there is no verifiable fact that’s wrong, should the stations rule on the fairness of the arguments in the ad?

What do you think stations should do in general in these circumstances? And what do you think they should do with the ad against Bachmann?

Al Franken

Even before today’s official deadline for federal candidates to report their fundraising numbers, one thing is abundantly clear: the left is raking in big money.

That’s true nationally and it’s the case in Minnesota, too.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken is enjoying being on the receiving end of this leftist largess.

Meanwhile, Sen. Norm Coleman and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, both Republicans, are on the receiving end of the spending by leftist groups. They’re both the targets of new television or radio ads critizing them over Iraq (Coleman) and the children’s health insurance battle (Bachmann).

The advantage the left is enjoying is highlighted at OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political money. The OpenSecrets overview is here. From the presidential race to Senate and House races to issue-oriented groups, the left comes out on top.

Norm Coleman

Consider:

Democratic presidential candidates raised an average of $2.2 million to the Republicans’ $1.2 million.

The top two Democrats – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama — raised a combined $122 million. The top Republicans — Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani — raised $80 million.

Nine out of 10 of the top overall donors have given more than half their money in 2007 to Democrats.

However you slice it, the Democrats end up with the biggest piece of the pie.

And that money is flowing into Minnesota in a big way. OpenSecrets ranks the Minnesota Senate race as the second most expensive in the nation. The Texas Senate race ranked first with $18.5 million raised by the candidates combined, and Minnesota followed close behind with $16.2 million. A distant third was Massachusetts with $8.2 million.

In the most recent quarter, Franken, the Democratic challenger, achieved the rare feat of outraising the incumbent, Coleman. Here’s the Star Tribune story about Franken and Coleman’s fundraising, and here’s our story about money raised by Mike Ciresi.
The radio ad aimed at Coleman is the work of Keeping America’s Promise, which is Sen. John Kerry’s political action committee. Coleman is one of six Republican senators targeted. You can find out more about Kerry’s effort here. And here is Coleman’s campaign website and here is the page we’ve created about him here on Politically Connected.

Michele Bachmann

While Coleman is being hit by a well-known figure, Bachmann is in the sights of a group that isn’t a household name, but it is one of the biggest left-leaning money groups — the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with 1.9 million members. The SEIU is part of the coalition paying for the TV ads pressing Bachmann to vote later this week to override President Bush’s veto of the children’s health insurance program.

The SEIU’s advocacy arm (a 527 organization), has raised more money than any other 527 group this election cycle, with $6.7 million, according to OpenSecrets. The closest right wing 527 group: GOPAC with $3.7 million. Here’s SEIU’s website and here’s Bachmann’s campaign website and here’s GOPAC’s site.

OpenSecrets cites the fact that Democrats control Congress as a key reason for their fundraising advantage.

Do you think that explains what’s happening? And why do you think the Minnesota Senate race is drawing so much money?

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Elwyn Tinklenberg announces his candidacy

Elwyn Tinklenberg’s announcement Monday that he’s running for Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District seat held by Republican Michele Bachmann ensures that the race will be high-profile. The contest is being cited nationally as a competitive race — one that could play a pivotal role in which party wins control of the House in the 2008 elections.

Congressional Quarterly has a story here citing the Sixth District as one of three in Minnesota that are among the most competitive nationally. The other two are the suburban Third District, where Republican Jim Ramstad is retiring, and the First District, in southern Minnesota, where Democrat Tim Walz will be seeking a second term. CQ says that the Midwest as a whole will be the true battleground for control of the U.S. House.

Michele Bachmann on Election night 2006

The state Republican Party weighed in with a press release, which you can find here.

Here’s a look at the coverage by a newspaper in the Sixth District. The St. Cloud Times article is here.

And here’s a post on the Minnesota Campaign Report blog from a supporter of another Democratic candidate in the Sixth, Bob Olson.

When you look back at Bachmann’s win over Patty Wetterling last year, and consider the current political landscape, which Democrat — or what type of candidate — do you think has the best chance of winning in the Sixth?