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Rep. Michele Bachmann on House floor with Hawaiian lei

The far right’s star House member just hit the headlines with a rowdy health-care rally on Capitol Hill. Benjamin Sarlin reports on the Democrats lining up in Minnesota to send Michele Bachmann into early retirement. Michele Bachmann took her paranoid campaign against the White House to new heights on Thursday, leading a mass protest inside the Capitol itself that led to multiple arrests. Antics like these have made her one of the breakout stars of the Republican Party in the Obama era, drawing praise from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and even George Will. But her stunts have also made what...

Army PFC Kham Xiong, 23, came from a St. Paul, Minn., family with ties to military life that spanned hemispheres. His father, Chor Xiong, battled Communist insurgents in Laos during the Vietnam War, according to Minnesota Public Radio, and his younger brother Nelson is enlisted in the Marines. In a phone interview, his 8th grade teacher, Tim McGowan, recalled Xiong's positive energy and his commitment to supporting his family. "Kham was just a person of sound character, and his greatest attribute was his ability to make everybody smile," said McGowan, now a principal at Community of Peace Academy, a St....

Whether you call it a rally, press conference or "House Call," Republicans think Thursday's Capitol Hill Tea Party was a success -- and they are crediting Rep. Michele Bachmann for having the pizazz to increase turnout and press coverage. "We didn't know what to expect, we didn't know what kind of energy would be there, but this thing took a life of its own," Brendan Buck, spokesman for the Republican Study Committee, told TPMDC. "It came together better than we ever imagined it would in terms of size and energy," he said. After chatting with press aides from various Republican offices,...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning a second anti-health care reform Tea Party at the Capitol -- this one scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday -- approximately the time when the House is due to vote on Democrats' public option bill, POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports. King and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) organized a rally Thursday that drew thousands to the west front of the Capitol, drawing chants of “Kill the Bill.” There were a handful of arrests. “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care,” King said in a news release. “We need the help of...

Rep. Michele Bachmann stood alone at a podium at the foot of the Capitol Thursday, blowing kisses and waving to the fawning crowd of thousands she had assembled. The tea party rally against a Democratic-written health care bill was over, and the other lawmakers had cleared the stage. But the love affair between Bachmann and her fans was reaching its apex. Brushing off an aide’s reminder to go inside and vote, the fiery Minnesotan with the fierce blue eyes descended toward a crowd penned in by the stone walls of the Capitol lawn. She leaned across the barrier to grasp...

A handful of Minnesota veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will join other vets in Washington, D.C., Thursday to call for more support for troops in Afghanistan. Some veterans from Minneapolis and St. Paul plan to meet with elected officials and White House officials to urge support for Gen. Stanley McChrystal's troop recommendations for the war in Afghanistan. McChrystal recommends up to 80,000 more troops in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is considering several options, including McChrystal's preference of about 40,000 additional U.S. forces next year.

DES MOINES - Days before traveling to Iowa to headline a Republican Party fundraiser, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was noncommittal about whether he would run for president but didn't shut the door to a campaign. In recent weeks, Pawlenty has launched the Freedom First PAC, fueling speculation that he is gearing up for a presidential run in 2012. Pawlenty appears Saturday at a Republican Party of Iowa gathering at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where he will keynote the event. Pawlenty said he'll make a decision about his future shortly after he finishes out his current term as governor. "But I...

More than half the 14,000 jobs created or saved by the federal economic stimulus in Minnesota are in public schools. Federal and state officials are reporting about 7,400 full-time teaching and school support staff jobs linked to the stimulus through the end of September. The U.S. Department of Education issued a report Monday detailing 7,421 stimulus jobs in the state's education system. Minnesota Management and Budget officials counted 7,380 K-12 school jobs created or saved by stimulus spending of $634 million.

Fellow conservatives from other groups have been compiling lists of conservative candidates around Minnesota to support November 3. Below is our list of candidate picks from these groups (and ours). We are not supporting a candidate for their party, but for their conservative principles. If you know of a conservative candidate to add, email us with name, city race and their website link. Check back often for updates.Conservative candidate picks:Minneapolis: Park & Rec Commission – at large: Dave WahlstedtBoard of Estimation & Taxation: Michael MartensCity Council: Ward 2: Allen AigbogunWard 3: Jeffrey CobiaWard 4: Grant CermakWard 6: Mike TupperWard 7:...

State Rep. Paul Kohls became an early casualty of the crowded race for Minnesota governor, dropping out Thursday because of a lack of support from GOP constituencies. "I've come to the conclusion that I don't have sufficient support from the delegates to keep going," Kohls told reporters. Kohls, who has been in the state House since 2002, was not among the top finishers in the state Republican party's straw poll earlier this month. The poll was won by House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, one of the first and most prominent Republicans to join the race after incumbent Tim Pawlenty, a...

Not long ago, Americans feared and ridiculed the police states cursing too many parts of the world. We worried that they might one day conquer us despite their poverty and general misery even as we mocked their totalitarian tactics — especially their “Papers, please” mentality.  Indeed, being forced to prove one’s identity to a bureaucrat on demand, having to carry and produce documents with personal information for his approval — or condemnation — seemed especially horrifying. One of our classic films, Casablanca, revolved around the deadly hassles of obtaining or forging such papers under the Nazis; episodes of Mission Impossible...

Sarah Palin fans are having a late-night release gathering at the Borders in Woodbury for her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life." The book goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, so the store expects customers to stay late on Monday night and hang out in the coffee bar, which is remaining open for the event. Not expected to be present is the former vice presidential candidate, who made her official RNC debut in St. Paul, where she wore clothing bought from the Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis.

After a pattern of attacking Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, on a nightly basis, one of the strategies is becoming apparent - MSNBC is in need of a boogeyman to give a face to the opposition of these radical steps being undertaken to fundamentally change health care in the United States. So rather than attack where the opposition is wrong on a policy level, MSNBC "Countdown" fill-in host Lawrence O'Donnell is going to apply one of the tactics from Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" to promote a dramatic shift in the U.S. health care system - "Pick the target,...

Minneapolis police are looking for a group of teenagers who attacked at least three men. The attacks happened just minutes apart in south Minneapolis early Thursday morning. One man trying to break up a fight became a victim himself, right in front of his young son. It was about 6:30 Thursday morning when Dr. Mani Mokalla was walking his 6-year-old son to the bus stop. He stumbled on a man being beaten up right on the sidewalk. "I basically inquired, 'What's going on, what are you guys doing?' And they said for me to mind my own business, and I...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with U.S. Bank, NA, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, to assume all of the deposits and essentially all of the assets of nine failed banks. The nine banks were closed this evening by federal and state bank regulators, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The nine banks involved in today's transaction are: Bank USA, National Association, Phoenix, Arizona; California National Bank, Los Angeles, California; San Diego National Bank, San Diego, California; Pacific National Bank, San Francisco, California; Park National Bank, Chicago, Illinois; Community...

Many Republican members of congress are back in their districts for the weekend trying to advocate against the House's health care plan, and that movement in Minnesota is being led by Michele Bachmann. While House Democrats rally around a health care bill they say will cover almost all Americans and lower costs, Republican Michele Bachmann sees it much differently. "I would prefer to see true health care reform, but unfortunately the bill that will come up next week that we will vote on is the government takeover of cradle to grave socialist health care. This is a mammoth, ugly bill...

A dog rescued by a retired police officer attacked him Sunday — inflicting hideous wounds on his face. "The doctors and nurses have never seen anything like this," said John Wess, a friend of the victim. Jim Stewart, 53, of Woodbury, reportedly suffered a severed ear and had the skin torn away from most of his face in the attack. He was listed Thursday evening in good condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. "He has not seen himself in a mirror, and we are pretty worried about that," said Wess, a retired St. Paul police officer and longtime friend....

KSTP investigated absentee ballot inconsistencies and reported their findings last night, and you can watch the video here. Many cities put up roadblocks to their investigation request -- and Bloomington threatened felony charges against KSTP if they reported on their findings. The most damning part is Sec. of State Mark Ritchie's denial of problems and response when asked to look at ballot envelopes and comment. "Ritchie first told us he could not read our examples, then said he wouldn't look at photocopies of absentee ballot envelopes." A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation has found that mistakes made with absentee ballots in...

The Federal Aviation Administration violated its own rules by taking more than 40 minutes to alert the military after losing communication with a Northwest Airlines flight last week, according to officials familiar with internal reviews under way at several federal agencies. The delay has sparked consternation within the military, concern within the FAA and special oversight by the White House, these officials said, particularly because such time lags were supposed to be eliminated as a result of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... the man charged with protecting the skies above North America, U.S. Air Force...

When Marcus Bachmann came home that Saturday evening in 2000, he checked the telephone answering machine and was mystified by the many messages congratulating his wife for something. "Michele," he said, "do you have something to tell me?" She did. The state senator from her district in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul had been in office for 17 years, had stopped being prolife and had started supporting tax increases, so that morning she had skipped washing her hair, put on jeans and a tattered sweatshirt and went to the local Republican nominating caucus to ask him a few pointed questions. There, on...

Six months ago I shared my great confidence in the course President Obama was charting to achieve victory in Afghanistan. Following a bipartisan fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Israel, I spoke of broad support among my congressional colleagues and the White House for the measures that would bring us closer to our shared goal of defending the American people and securing peace. Less than half a year later, however, my confidence in our nation's civilian leadership is fading. It appears political calculations are preventing us from moving toward our common goal. The latest justification for delaying necessary military...

Eight of the flat-screen TVs removed from a Minnesota sex offender treatment facility on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's orders will go to Minnesota National Guard facilities. The state Department of Administration said Wednesday that Camp Ripley, near Brainerd, will get six of the 50-inch plasma televisions that prompted Pawlenty's ire last week. The Guard's Minneapolis and Duluth airbases will also each get one. Pawlenty called for discipline for whoever authorized buying 26 TVs costing $1,500 each, plus $700 mounting brackets, for the Moose Lake sex offender facility. The Department of Human Services is investigating. The governor previously announced that 14 TVs...

Armed F-16s from the Wisconsin Air National Guard were on the runway and could have shot down the errant Northwest flight, officials said today. "As a force of last resort, NORAD is always prepared to do whatever is necessary," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told ABCNews.com. Air traffic controllers feared Northwest Flight 188, might have been hijacked after its pilots failed to respond to radio transmissions for more than an hour. Air traffic controllers reported the pilots initially failed to respond to commands as it passed from the air space controlled by the FAA Denver Center into the area controlled by...

Want to be noticed by any one of the hosts that have a primetime show on MSNBC's weeknight lineup? Just figure out a way to incorporate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., with the subject matter and there's an excellent chance either Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow will take a shot at it or her during their shows. In the Oct. 25 Washington Post, George Will penned a column about Bachmann, outlining her ascendancy into the national spotlight, which told of her start in politics and how she grew to become reviled by the left. And it was...

The licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots involved in last week's "overflying" incident were revoked today by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a day after Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., called for a ban on using laptop computers in airline cockpits. The San Diego-to-Minneapolis flight overshot its destination by 150 miles because the pilots were apparently online in the cockpit (though they initially told investigators that they were distracted by a "conversation") and missed the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They didn't realize their mistake until they had reached Eau Claire, Wis., at which point they turned around and flew back...

St. Paul, Minn. — President Obama is promising new steps toward capping greenhouse gas emissions, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty is backing away from his earlier support for new regulations to slow global warming. Since 2006, Tim Pawlenty has been touting clean energy initiatives as a way to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, he used his time as chair of the National Governor's Association to suggest ways to improve, develop and advance clean energy. The effort was meant to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, but Pawlenty also didn't deny that it was an attempt to clean up the...

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles. The pilots — Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., the captain, and Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer — told safety investigators they were working on their personal laptop computers and lost track of time and place. The pilots, who were out of communications with air traffic controllers for 91 minutes, violated numerous federal safety regulations in the incident last Wednesday night, the FAA said in a statement. The violations included failing to comply with...

Some struggling homeowners are turning to the courts in a bid to force mortgage servicers to consider them for the Obama administration's foreclosure-rescue program, arguing they are eligible for help but haven't received it. The suits are the latest sign of difficulties some borrowers are having with the program, which has helped more than 500,000 people begin trial loan modifications since it was announced in February.

When Marcus Bachmann came home that Saturday evening in 2000, he checked the telephone answering machine and was mystified by the many messages congratulating his wife for something. "Michele," he said, "do you have something to tell me?" She did. The state senator from her district in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul had been in office for 17 years, had stopped being pro-life and started supporting tax increases, so that morning Michele Bachmann had skipped washing her hair, put on jeans and a tattered sweatshirt and went to the local Republican nominating caucus to ask the incumbent a few pointed questions. There,...

WHEN Marcus Bachmann came home that Saturday evening in 2000, he checked the telephone answering machine and was mystified by the many messages congratulating his wife for something. "Michele," he said, "do you have something to tell me?" She did. The state senator from her district in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul had been in office for 17 years, had stopped being pro-life and started supporting tax increases, so that morning she skipped washing her hair, put on jeans and a tattered sweatshirt and went to the local Republican nominating caucus to ask him a few pointed questions. There, at the spur...

<p>WASHINGTON -- When Marcus Bachmann came home that Saturday evening in 2000 he checked the telephone answering machine and was mystified by the many messages congratulating his wife for something. "Michele," he said, "do you have something to tell me?" She did.</p>

Hennepin County has been highly successful in winning federal stimulus money, receiving $40 million for a dozen projects such as rebuilding the Lowry Avenue Bridge, adding crime lab scientists to process DNA and retraining laid-off workers for new jobs. Now the county is hoping for federal money to stem the tide of burger joints and to subsidize bike helmets and sneakers for commuters. As part of its campaign to fight obesity, the board last week directed staffers to seek $10 million in stimulus money from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve nutrition and encourage biking...

Only a handful of people have their hands on the president's daily schedule. In the Obama administration, four of them come from Minnesota -- a tightknit crew that helps plan almost every detail of the commander-in-chief's day. They spent years bouncing from campaign to campaign together, in a happenstance journey that has landed them at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "It's always a joke that it's the Minnesotans who have kind of taken over the scheduling office," said Chase Cushman. "And it's been that way since the [Obama] campaign." Not long ago, Cushman's biggest worry was likely shaving seconds off his swim...

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a big number that only tells part of the story. The number of banks that have failed so far this year topped 100 on Friday — hitting 106 by the end of the day — the most in nearly two decades. But the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad...

The big screen, flat panel TVs that so recently hung on the walls of the Moose Lake sex offender program will soon be enjoyed by patients at veterans homes across the state. In a move designed to put an end to an embarrassing episode for a cost-conscious administration, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Friday that at least 14 of the two dozen sets will go to veterans homes in Minneapolis, Fergus Falls, Hastings and Silver Bay. Jon Skillingstad, the administrator of the veterans home in Fergus Falls, said the new televisions will be a welcome addition. "We can easily make use...

A 36-year-old Richfield man charged with making terroristic threats during an argument with another man in Wright County has been arrested at O'Hare Airport after skipping out before his trial was to begin this month, authorities in Minnesota said today. Ismail Alqawasmi remains in custody after his arrest at 8 p.m. Thursday, the Wright County Sheriff's Office said. The Chicago-Sun Times reported that Alqawasmi flew into the United States from Amman, Jordan, on Royal Jordanian airlines and a customs official conducting a name check found the warrant on a law enforcement data base, according to police. Alqawasmi was searched and...

DULUTH, Minn. - A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint said 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers. Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

The operator of a La-Z-Boy chair converted into a motorized vehicle -- complete with a stereo and cup holders, a steering wheel, headlights and a power antenna -- has admitted that he crashed the piece of furniture after leaving a bar in Proctor, Minn., extremely drunk. Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 61, of Proctor, pleaded guilty Monday to hopping on the chair on the night of Aug. 31, 2008, after visiting the Keyboard Lounge, then crashing into a more traditional vehicle in the parking lot. Anderson's blood-alcohol content was 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota....

Republican critics pilloried the White House for making it too easy to request e-mail updates about health reform, but it turns out the GOP could have spam problems of its own. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) sent a tweet this morning from her @michelebachmann account saying: "If you're interested in receiving mobile updates from me, text MN6 to 467468 or visit Bachmann.house.gov and subscribe. Thanks so much!" The homepage of her congressional site allows users to sign up for the "Bachmann Bulletin" by entering only a first name, last name and e-mail address. Then you get a confirmation message that says,...

Republican critics pilloried the White House for making it too easy to request e-mail updates about health reform, but it turns out the GOP could have spam problems of its own. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) sent a tweet this morning from her @michelebachmann account saying: “If you're interested in receiving mobile updates from me, text MN6 to 467468 or visit Bachmann.house.gov and subscribe. Thanks so much!” The homepage of her congressional site allows users to sign up for the “Bachmann Bulletin” by entering only a first name, last name and e-mail address. Then you get a confirmation message that says,...

With her life perhaps just a pull of the trigger from ending, a St. Paul bank teller refused to hand over the cash. But the gunman, rather than firing the black handgun he had aimed at the teller, fled on foot without a nickel more than he had when he entered the bank Tuesday afternoon. The FBI describes the suspect who tried to rob the Cherokee State Bank at 607 Smith Av. S. as white, in his 30s, 5 feet 8 to 6 feet tall, with a slender to medium build. He was wearing a black coat, blue jeans, a...

Here is the must see video of Lord Christopher Monckton’s speech in Minnesota last week in which he declared that Obama plans to cede US sovereignty to a newly created world government and transfer our wealth to poorer countries based on the fact that we destroyed the earth’s climate, while they (the under-developed countries) were merely victims. Video Link

Officials at the Moose Lake Sex Offenders Program began unbolting the two dozen 50-inch plasma television sets at the center on Tuesday, just hours after Gov. Tim Pawlenty called the purchase "boneheaded" and ordered a search to find out who made the decision. The TVs, costing $1,576 apiece with $706 mounting brackets, were ordered last October and installed at the new $45 million treatment center when it opened in July. State officials said the televisions, which were mounted in common areas, made it easier to supervise patients at the 400-bed facility. But when Pawlenty learned of the purchase in a...

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota chapter of ACORN is feeling the heat brought on by the parent organization's problems. Minnesota is not among the places where ACORN staffers were caught on video advising a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute on how to disguise income, but there are signs the local organization's role of advocating for poor Minnesotans has been diminished due in part to the media furor over the video. ACORN's national problems have brought out both its critics and defenders in Minnesota. The governor banned state money from going to the group even though ACORN hasn't...

A settlement has been reached in the "Flying Imams" federal lawsuit that was filed by six Muslim men who claim they were falsely arrested on a US Airways jet in the Twin Cities three years ago because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds. According to federal court records, a settlement was reached Monday and filed with the court today. A clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan would not comment on a settlement and instead referred questions to attorneys. A New York attorney for the imams Omar Mohammedi, said this afternoon that settlement is "satisfactory to the plaintiffs." Mohammedi added...

HIBBING — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., traveled to the Range on Thursday armed with some upbeat job statistics that she hopes and believes will result from the $879 billion federal stimulus/spending bill signed into law earlier this week. But when the lawmaker, with family Range roots, arrived to speak at the Hibbing Community College in the late afternoon she had to add a new, unpleasant job number to her speech — 590 layoffs at the Minntac taconite mine in Mountain Iron. “These are real people and this is a real story of layoffs and pain. It’s difficult but important...

It’s 2009 and the 2012 presidential contest is underway, a full three years early — too early if you’re a typical person who hears 2012 and thinks of the apocalypse, and not early enough if you’re a political nerd who gets the excitement from elections that he should be getting from football games. Obviously, I fall into the latter category. Sports always seemed to me like an inconsequential exercise in watching big guys run, fall down, and throw stuff. Give it up for Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, also known in his true ghetto fashion as T-Paw, who telegraphed his...

In February, I weighed 280 pounds. I'm 5 feet 10, and my claim that I was "big-boned" was wearing pretty thin. Even a mastodon my height wouldn't weigh that much. So the recent proposal by Kelly Brownell and David Ludwig to tax sugar-sweetened beverages ("Sweeten the health care pot: Tax sugar," Oct. 9) got me thinking. My first reaction was that Brownell and Ludwig didn't go far enough. If sugar-sweetened soda should be taxed, how about ice cream, cake, doughnuts, cookies and candy? They have plenty of sugar in them. And what about sugar? It has plenty of sugar in...

Incendiary headline? You bet. Here's the story, which, not inconsequentially, was brought to my attention by both U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar fans and foes. Wednesday night, the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce held its 139th annual dinner meeting, with nearly 1,100 people in attendance at the DECC. The keynote speaker was Klobuchar, who started the day casting votes in DC but came to Minnesota Wednesday evening solely for the Duluth speech. Apparently there were plane delays, and Klobuchar finally arrived in Duluth via helicopter, just a few minutes late. She hurried to the podium and gave a 20-minute speech, hurried...