Oh, boy. Jim Graves is even smarter than I thought he was. No sooner did Michele Bachmann announce that *she’s* dropping out of the next election, than Graves announced that *he’s* dropping out.
Makes sense: graves is not a career politician. he got into the race 1) because he wanted to end Bachmann’s fact-free, conspiracy mongering reign in congress, and 2) because he was sure he could win (and he almost did, despite being a Dem running in Republican majority voter demographic.)
And you can imagine Graves’ internal monologue: “woo-hoo! bachmann’s out? that means that i don’t have dump any more barrels of my hard-earned motel chain millions into driving that kook out of congress and back into the ‘Roswell space alien invasion’ conventions where she belongs. thank goodness i ran: my election totals helped to scare a ‘paranoid’s national treasure’ out of another run for office. but mrs. graves’ baby boy jimmy isn’t so stupid as to hang around and throw his own considerable gelt into a race in minnesota’s most conservative district again… run against a republican who *isn’t* certifiably nuts, in a republican majority district? no sir, i’ll be keeping my dough this time, and good luck with that, dems –”
his decision not to run seems to confirm his assertion: that the chief reason he ran was to end the craziness of michele bachmann. but graves was an effective campaigner in the sixth district. he was actually able to persuade some number of voters in a very conservative district to abandon the conservative incumbent in favor of the Democrat. (it was a very close contest…if pre-election news reporting on polls hadn’t steadily stressed a chronic but ultimately fictional bachmann lead, graves might have gotten in.)
graves’ decision not run is a blow to dems around the state. we lose the name recognition and credibility he built with so many sixth district voters. we needed that because we still need to keep the sixth District out of the hands of a Bachmann clone. i’m referring any GOP successor candidate who can do what bachmann did: capture the enthusiasm of the Christian Right, the teabaggers, the conservative talk radio voters, and more mainstream Republicans who just plain loathe Dems.
That’s Bachmann’s real political legacy–proving by example that lying nuts from the ultraright are indeed electable and can indeed be influential in state elections and federal policy making.
If the GOP nominee is ‘like Bachmann’ (a creature of the ultraright) and wins the sixth–that will prove that Ultra right candidates are still electable even after Bachmann’s departure. Another congressional victory by another wingnut candidate–will serve as another inspiring “can do” example for ultraright kooks in Minnesota.
In the Bachmann era, these kooks got a taste of power in the Minnesota Republican Party. If a kook candidate runs and loses a congressional in the sixth next time: that diminishes the number and influence of kooks in the state GOP and state government. But if a kook runs and wins that congressional seat next time…
…the kook influence in MN marches on, spreading out into government like a virus. they need only stay in office long enough for voters to tire of dem control. any significant anti-dem media coverage will allow the candidates with the GOP branding to take over — even if that crop of gop candidates is a bunch of ultraright nuts in waiting .
So the identities of the Dem and Republican nominees running in the conservative Sixth is actually critical…if you understand the effect of Bachmann’s election to congress im 2006 had on MN politics. (Many people still don’t understand that (or pretend not to.) To a great degree, election results in the sixth district contributed to a host of bad candidates entering MN government–paralyzing liberal and progressive intiatives, replacing more mainstream Republicans with Bachmann-like wing nuts who are still there.
And will continue to be the case, if another Bachmann type is nominated by the gop, defeats a dem in this 8+ GOP congressional district– thus inspiring so much successful imitation in your districts; in your local elections. just the way michele bachmann did…
BONUS HORROR STORY:
…and what if–now that graves has announced he’s out–bachmann ‘comes back’ in a month or two and announces she’s running again (because she and her mentors become convinced that she can beat a dem again, so long as it’s not graves?
Wouldn’t that be funny if she did that? She’s now on video insisting that fear of facing Graves again had nothing to do with her decision to withdraw. it would be humiliating for her to come back into the race simply because Graves decided not to run.
But Michele Bachmann has never cared about being humiliated or laughed at. and it’s her ongoing ‘campaign corruption’ troubles that make her a likely loser next year — what if she settles these troubles soon — in the coming months — and media revelations about corruption end, a year or so before election day?
would she do that? (before you answer, remember: she’s a nut, and a drama queen. she’s addicted to the spotlight, and she takes her orders from the national christian right — not the gop in minnesota or d.c.)
Heh heh heh… I fantasize About ‘Bachmann coming back’ and stuff like that because I have a morbid sense of humor. actually i did you a favor, i left the part about ‘werewolves’ out of this scenario.
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