Political Hotsheet
By

Stephanie Condon /

CBS News/ September 29, 2010, 1:39 PM

Will Dems Squeeze Out Michele Bachmann -- After November?

Michele Bachmann AP

The Minnesota Republican Party is warning that Democrats in the state may try and squeeze Rep. Michele Bachmann out of office, the New York Times reports -- not by defeating her this November, but by eliminating her district when the state redraws its congressional map next year.

Bachmann's campaign tells Hotsheet redistricting isn't a concern. "We're focusing on winning big in November," campaign spokesman Sergio Gor said.

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party also dismissed the issue, telling the Times they had no such plans to kick the outspoken Tea Party conservative out of Congress by getting rid of her district.

The reality, however, is that Midwesterners are likely to have fewer congressional representatives after this year due to the results of the Census. Congressional seats are allotted based on the Census counts from each state, and the population is growing faster in Southern and Western states.

Midwestern states made concerted efforts to get full Census participation, the Times reports. Ironically, Bachmann may have detracted from those efforts. Last year, the congresswoman decried the Census, arguing that there were too many personal questions asked. She said she and her family would only partially fill out their Census forms. Other Republicans urged her to rethink her position.

Gor would not comment on whether Bachmann fully filled out the Census and reiterated their focus on the race against Democrat Tarryl Clark in the safely Republican district.

"We've got 34 days until victory," he said.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010


Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
18 Comments Add a Comment
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joeyfoto says:
I can't think of a more fitting reward for Michelle Bachmann's paranoid rant against filling out the census, than for her to be gerrymandered out of her district, after MNs documented population contracted. Who better to sort out than this obvious liar, who repeatedly says false things on video tape then denies that she ever said them.

Michelle Bachmann has accomplished nothing for the people of her district except to make an national ass of herself while she humiliated her constituents.

Michelle Bachmann hoist on her own petard ? what a pretty picture.

I wonder, do you think anyone can communicate irony to a fundamentalist?
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joeyfoto says:
Why would anyone vote for this incompetent woman?

Michelle Bachmann is a notorious liar. She has told lies that were recorded on video tape then denied that she said the things that she obviously and explicitly said. Yet she runs on the Fundamentalist Christian ticket, with a Fundamentalist Christian agenda of no abortion rights, no gay rights, plus extra rights for Christians along with the conflation of right-wing economics as somehow essentially Christian.

The woman has done nothing for Minnesota. She has not authored a single bill that passed. She is a primary factor in the increasing poverty in her district, yet church busses of voter come to vote for her. Michelle Bachmann is a symbol of the failure of American Christianity to live up to Christian principles.
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Dave_P6 says:
""People ask me, 'What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?' Well, that's not my job as a U.S. senator." ?Sharron Angle, Republican, May 14, 2010 ***** DEMOCRATS: PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE FOR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO DO THE SAME...The polls show we have a fighting chance of keeping the majority in the Senate and the House: http://www.electoral-vote.com. Please don't let these victories slip away, vote this November!
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ohyes1234 says:
She will dye her hair blonde and work for Fox. Her knowledge and rhetoric fits them well.
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RobAla says:
So if she can't be beat in a fair and square election, the Democrats will just rig it where her district goes away? Where are all the Al Gore election stealing people on this one?
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BradNoley says:
See you later Michele B., I hear Jack-in-the-Box is hiring.
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P0ST1ING_AWAY replies:
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Bradley: You would trust HER to make your hamburger ??????
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tonyatq says:
I wonder did the voters of her district take her advice and ignore the census. She wants smaller government why not start with her.
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superdem1 says:
I always thought Minnesotans were intelligent people, but apparently there are the same ignorant reactionaries in that state that exist in so many others, too. America rose to greatness because of a strong federal government which provided opportunities to businessmen, not the other way around. America also rose to greatness through the exploitation of the laboring class, be they African slaves, poor European immigrants, imported Chinese labor, Mexican farm labor, and many others. Environmental and industrial regulations were unknown in our early days, too. Republicans like Michele Bachmann never tell the truth about America's early days when they say they want to "take back America." They have amnesia about the many struggles America has endured on her road to greatness. Real Americans listen to her and don't know what she's talking about, she's from another planet.
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taptap77 replies:
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Why don't you leave this horrible nation and don't let the door hit you in the a## on the way out!
natref replies:
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What country are you thinking of? All the founding fathers all knew that a limited government only ensuring and protecting freedom for all is what makes people be their best. They were fearful of a strong government because it takes away the liberties and wealth of your work. It was also the only way to keep the rich elite from making even more than the average person. Nice to know that intelligent people from Minnesota have amnesia in your eyes. What malady do you have?
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slatep says:
I don't know anything about Christine O'Donnell.

What I do know is that the electoral college is that it should be totally eliminated.

This group was responsible for electing George W. H. Bush president of the United States.

As an American citizen, we should demand the electoral college be eliminated and disbanded and we would know that our one man vote counts.

While we will never know what state our Country would be in had Gore been elected (he received the most popular votes) I regret we never had the opportunity to find out because of the electoral college.

Our entire election system needs to be overhauled, and I have a few suggestions what this overhaul should include.

Unfortunately, as only one vote, I will never see anything change.

Tnhe government doesn't want to give up one ounce of control it has over the people of the United States, and Obama is seeking to take away more of our freedoms by attempting to diminish the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
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jimbom121 replies:
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umm, the electoral college has been responsible for electing every president since John Adams. There are about 20 states that have passed a popular vote act, where they would abide by the winner of the popular vote. It should also be noted that only twice has the winner of the popular vote not won the electoral college.

Please explain just what Obama has done to diminish the Constitution.
mvymvy replies:
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Because of the state-by-state winner-take-all electoral votes laws (i.e., awarding all of a state?s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in each state) in 48 states, a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide. This has occurred in 4 of the nation's 56 (1 in 14) presidential elections. Near misses are now frequently common. A shift of 60,000 votes in Ohio in 2004 would have defeated President Bush despite his nationwide lead of 3,500,000 votes.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. Elections wouldn't be about winning states. Every vote would be counted for and directly assist the candidate for whom it was cast. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not just undecided voters in a handful of swing states.

The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes--that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for president. It does not abolish the Electoral College, which would need a constitutional amendment, and could be stopped by states with as little as 3% of the U.S. population. Historically, virtually all of the major changes in the method of electing the President, including ending the requirement that only men who owned substantial property could vote and 48 current state-by-state winner-take-all laws, have come about by state legislative action, without federal constitutional amendments.

The National Popular Vote bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers, in 21 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas (6), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), The District of Columbia (3), Maine (4), Michigan (17), Nevada (5), New Mexico (5), New York (31), North Carolina (15), and Oregon (7), and both houses in California (55), Colorado (9), Hawaii (4), Illinois (21), New Jersey (15), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (12), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), and Washington (11). The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington. These six states possess 73 electoral votes -- 27% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.

See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
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chonder2 says:
How can a district can vote for that feces spouting lying bag of hypocritical trash is beyond me.She ranks the lowest on the no nothing, lying idiot chart below Angle,O'Donnell and Beck.That district should be ashamed.
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larlinc replies:
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HA-HA-HA!!!!! Now that's a great description of that total disgrace to womanhood!!
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