CD6 news digest: No tea parties on Bachmann’s home turf, but plenty of change

Perhaps it’s indicative of Representative Bachmann’s absentee status as a representative that the only Tea Party remotely in her district today takes place in Princeton: most of the town is actually in Mille Lacs County, which is part of Minnesota’s Eight CD. The park where the rally is lies in Jim Oberstar’s Eighth.

In fact, none of the Minnesota rallies are taking place in districts held by Republicans. Twas not so in 2009: one conservative blogger’s account of the event last year in the Stearns County metropolis. The above photo above is typical of snapshots from the 2009 Tea Party.

However, the absence of a Tea Party in her own district today didn’t prevent the Tea Party Express from declaring  Michele Bachmann an official ‘Tea Party Hero’ . Bachmann met the bus in St. Paul last week. Today at a Washington rally, Bachmann asked  Tea Partiers [to] Rally Against “Gangster Goverment”‎; Fox News reported that:

The crowd at the earlier of two rallies scheduled for Thursday was not a huge one by Washington, D.C., standards, coming in at about 3,000 to 4,000 people.

A day earlier organizers downplayed expectations, saying only about 5,000 to 10,000 people were expected to show up because they have encouraged people across the country to cultivate protests in their hometowns.

The memo didn’t make it to Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that Bachmann raised $810k in 1st Qtr with $1.53 million COH on April 1; the report can be found here (and the detailed summary below the fold. DFL-endorsed candidate Tarryl Clark raised over $500,000 in the first quarter; to keep herself competitive in the Democratic primary Reed to lend herself $250K in 6th District, the Associate Press reports via the St. Cloud Times.

The St. Cloud Times has published odd claims from a spurned Republican candidate in State Senate hopeful calls District 16 endorsement process ‘corrupt’:

Fellow Republicans call him “a Rambo kind of candidate.”

And state Senate hopeful Patrick Munro is taking aim at fellow Republicans in this year’s campaign, even suggesting DFLers “manipulated” the GOP endorsement that went to his competitor. Dave Brown earned the Republican endorsement last month in state Senate District 16. GOP delegates say Brown, a political newcomer from Becker, offers the best chance for Republicans to reclaim the right-leaning District 16 from DFL Sen. Lisa Fobbe, who won the seat in 2008. . . .

…Munro, who runs a lawn-care business, says Brown doesn’t belong in the Legislature.

…”He’s not a conservative, and he doesn’t know the Constitution,” Munro said. “Dave just doesn’t have the qualifications to be a senator.”

Munro is a U.S. Army Reserve veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and often invokes fellow soldiers who died in Iraq as motivating his candidacy.

Munro’s service earned him respect from delegates, McDevitt said. But only six of 172 delegates supported Munro on the first ballot at last month’s convention.

“He’s coming from a very noble stance, but he has no support,” McDevitt said.

Read the entire at the Times. Lisa Fobbe captured the seat in a special election after a series of Republican mishaps and quarrels.

The Forest Lake Times explains why Running Aces axed from racino:

Day gave several reasons why the harness track was cut.

First, Running Aces wasn’t part of the formation of Racino Now and the harness track contributed no start-up money, Day said.

“We brought them on board because we thought it would help us. What we found is that it didn’t,”  Day said. “We figured, ‘Hey, if they want to have their own bill, or whatever, they can do whatever they want,” he said of Running Aces.

Day said racino supporters gradually came to agree that a racino at Running Aces could indeed hurt the casino operations of Native American tribes to the north.

At a recent hearing, a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe tribal official said the biggest threat to the bands’ casinos would be slot machines at Running Aces. It could impact their business by 40 percent, the official said.. . .

Find out how the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association responded by reading the rest of the article online.

In the Woodbury Dispatch, a reader defends Bachmann, and gets fact-checked herself in the comments.

From the Bachmann campaign committee detailed summary at the FEC:

Of Receipts And Disbursements