Federal Election Commission

Bachmann and Graves bow out

Both Michele Bachmann and Jim Graves decide not to vie for the 6th District

Bachmann's book tour to promote moribund autobiography has her in fresh trouble with feds

Michele Bachmann's late 2011 tour to promote her autobiography, "Core of Conviction," has apparently landed her in fresh trouble with federal investigators.HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: Michele Bachmann and Bradlee Dean both set to speak at right-wing event After six weeks of promotional touring and nearl ... More >>

Michele Bachmann blames Dems for ethics allegations made by her own ex-staffers

Here are the facts: Michele Bachmann is under federal investigation for allegedly violating campaign finance laws during her ill-fated presidential run. The investigation began after Bachmann's former National Field Coordinator, Peter Waldron, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. ... More >>

Glenn Beck blames federal investigation into Bachmann on Minnesota's Somali population [VIDEO]

Glenn Beck took a page out of Michele Bachmann's playbook while coming to the beleaguered congresswoman's defense this week. He blamed the ethical mess she finds herself in on those damn Muslims -- in particular, Minnesota's Somali population. SEE ALSO: MN secession petition: Glenn Beck to be first ... More >>

Michele Bachmann blames news of federal ethics investigation on "political adversaries"

Michelle Bachmann's spokesman blames the disclosure of a federal investigation into allegations Bachmann violated campaign finance rules during her ill-fated presidential run on "political adversaries in an attempt to disparage her reputation as a top target of the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Cam ... More >>

John Kline gave $4,000 to Scott DesJarlais in October, but won't publicly support him now

Tomorrow, Minnesota U.S. Rep. John Kline is hosting a fundraiser for sex scandal-embattled Tennessee U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais.THE BACKSTORY: John Kline hosting fundraiser for "anti-abortion zealot with running tab at Planned Parenthood"Kline won't be attending the event and his spokesman won't say ... More >>

Larry Craig says sex fiasco was gov't business, wants to pay legal bills with campaign cash

Folks gave dough to GOP Sen. Larry Craig because they believed in his politics and wanted to help continue his career in the U.S. Senate. Instead, they might end up paying lawyers to argue that Craig really does have one of the widest bathroom stall stances known to man.SEE ALSO: Larry Craig airport ... More >>

Michele Bachmann still hasn't paid Iowa staffers; one says her behavior is un-Christian

According to Peter Waldron, Michele Bachmann's colorful National Field Coordinator during her ill-fated presidential campaign, his former boss still hasn't paid her Iowa staffers -- and it's not because she's broke.SEE ALSO: Michele Bachmann, Profiles in Courage: She runs away from, lies to CNN repo ... More >>

Tim Walz one of 20 most vulnerable incumbents, Democrats say

Representative Tim Walz is vulnerable to a Republican challenge in his fall re-election campaign, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That much seemed obvious to Minnesota Republicans earlier this year: party power broker Michael Brodkorb left the state GOP to work for sta ... More >>

MNGOP accused of violating campaign finance law

​We knew that the Minnesota Republican Party's financial situation is ugly -- but in self-flagellating with the ugly stick, did the MNGOP also violate the law?Yes it did, argues Mike Dean, Common Cause Minnesota's executive director.

Michele Bachmann's New Hampshire staffers all quit [UPDATE]

Michele Bachmann: Wait, come back! I'm going to win!​Michele Bachmann's paid campaign staffers in New Hampshire just quit. And boom, as they say, goes the dynamite.The bad, bad news of exodus was broken first by New Hampshire political reporter James Pindell, and has since exploded on Politico. Ge ... More >>

Michele Bachmann vs. Ed Rollins: The $99,000 "I should have Googled" fight

Michele Bachmann, Ed Rollins: They should have Googled each other, themselves.​Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign has been reduced to a bug on the windshield of America's consciousness. Now, with the SPLAT! still echoing, Bachmann is trying her hand at the blame game, throwing some serious m ... More >>

Michele Bachmann's campaign is broke

​Michele Bachmann has a new e-mail blast out, and a new campaign "ad" on Youtube, both of which make it pretty clear that her campaign is totally, absolutely, utterly out of money. Over the last few weeks, Bachmann's fundraising e-mails have grown more desperate, and her videos are about the cheap ... More >>

Barack Obama has raised 15 times more from U.S. military than Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann, Barack Obama: The military only gives money to one of these people.​Michele Bachmann loves the United States Military. Apparently, the military doesn't love her back.New data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that Barack Obama, whom Michele Bachmann has repeate ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty: How to get rich by running for president for three months

Tim Pawlenty: Sad, but rich.​Anyone feeling bad for Tim Pawlenty in the days since he pulled out of the presidential race -- well, don't.Pawlenty turned his bid for the Republican nomination into a pretty lucrative side gig for the first half of 2011, according to financial disclosure forms releas ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty's 5 most regrettable expenses

Tim Pawlenty: Can you spare a dime? ​Tim Pawlenty is broke. Or at least, that's what everyone's thinking, now that he's decided to stop running his majestic campaign ads on Iowa TV stations in the run up to the August 13, Ames Straw Poll.  Winning voters on just radio ads and on foot is a gre ... More >>

Bachmann rips Obama for using tax dollars the same way she does

​Michele Bachmann keeps finding ways to oppose the things she supports. States' rights are good, unless the states don't follow her moral code, she says. Activist judges are bad unless they pass her litmus test. Now, she's using Facebook criticize to President Barack Obama for using tax dollars ... More >>

Bachmann flunks Wall Street bailout history, hammers Obama rather than Bush

Michele Bachmann attributes the Wall Street bailout to Obama, not Bush.​Michele Bachmann has flunked American history again. "When he came in as the president of the United States," she said of Barack Obama yesterday in South Carolina, "he decided we had to have this $700 billion bailout of Wall ... More >>

Michele Bachmann not ready to debate Republicans

Not ready to debate.​Michele Bachmann claims she's not afraid to debate President Barack Obama, but she's not sure she's ready for a prime time debate with other Republicans first, in what she calls the key stepping stone state of South Carolina. But in order to qualify as a serious White Ho ... More >>

Jeff Larson: Political Landlord

AP ImagesLarson has rented to more than just Norm Coleman.​By Mike Mullen In mid-2008, it came out that Jeff Larson had been renting a Washington, D.C. apartment to then-Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn), a close friend and political cohort. As a landlord, Larson -- the subject of last week's fea ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty to make presidential announcement today

Pawlenty will officially be thinking about running.​After years of inching toward a 2012 presidential bid, former-Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expected to actually make a formal step toward the nomination. This afternoon, Pawlenty will announce plans to launch a presidential exploratory committee, ac ... More >>

Michele Bachmann dropped $225 on makeup and hair before Election Day

No, not this makeup job.​Rep. Michele Bachmann had a record amount of money to throw around as Election Day drew near a few months ago, so she figured, what the heck, she'd drop a couple of Ben Franklins on looking good for the media swarm. Cost Cutters evidently didn't cut it for the sixth distr ... More >>

Michele Bachmann says even $5.4 million isn't enough

​Michele Bachmann may not have, as Tarryl Clark put it, done @#%! for the 6th congressional district. But the incumbent Republican is now wallowing in so much money that it probably doesn't matter what Clark has to say.

Brett Favre is Democratic blue under that purple jersey

Favre wears purple, but he's blue underneath.​He'll wear purple on the field tonight in New Orleans, but if you look close, you might see a blue undershirt on Brett Favre. He's one of more than 40 NFL-related players and front office types who have made political contributions of $3,000 or m ... More >>

Michele Bachmann fears Walter Mondale's bull's-eye on her back

​It's not as if Michele Bachmann actually needs anymore cash; she sits on mountains of greenbacks ready for the good spendin' to keep her congressional seat and personalized studio chair at Fox News. But by golly that Walter Mondale guy has a bull's-eye on her back now. Pelosi too! And don't f ... More >>

Michele Bachmann blows Sarah Palin a big fundraising thank you kiss

Photo: Nick VlcekMichele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, the GOP "gold standard," at work in Minneapolis​We noted the other day that Republican Michele Bachmann and her Democratic challenger, Tarryl Clark, both raised more campaign cash in the second quarter -- $1.7 million and $910,000 respectively ... More >>

Tarryl Clark boasts $2M in bank to throw at Michele Bachmann

Clark's hauling cash, but Bachmann has become a fund-raising behemoth​Democrat Tarryl Clark almost doubled her fund-raising bottom line in the second quarter of the year compared to the first, raking in $910,000 the last three months, compared to about $500,000 the three previous months. Taken ... More >>

Michele Bachmann hauls in $1.7 million for second quarter

Bachmann's fundraising dwarfs that of her opponent​Democrat Taryll Clark rightly boasted this morning that she'd raised almost $1 million in campaign funds during the second quarter of the year in her effort to unseat Republican Michele Bachmann in the sixth congressional district. Now the o ... More >>

Bachmann slams Obama on BP, so we follow the money

Photo: USCG/FlickrDeepwater Horizon's fiery demise​Rep. Michele Bachmann got her crazy on again this week, lobbing a factually-challenged verbal assault on the president for persuading BP to establish a $20 billion independent escrow account to administer claims against the oil giant for its d ... More >>

Maureen Reed bows to Tarryl Clark in race against Michele Bachmann

Maureen Reed steps aside​DFLer Maureen Reed stepped out of the race to unseat GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann on Sunday, relieving fellow Democrat Tarryl Clark the headache of having to run in the August primary, as well as the general election in November. And she took one last shot at Bachmann's ... More >>

Glen Taylor paid $10K for Bachmann-Palin photo op

Photo: Nick Vlcek​So, who shelled out $10,000 for a photo op with Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin last week? Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and at least five other individuals, according to an FEC report cited by the Star Tribune. Bachmann for Congress, meanwhile, reports $810,000 ... More >>

Democrats slam Bachmann for hypocrisy on monster AIG bonuses

Those poor AIG executives. So bailed out under Bush by taxpayers. So persecuted. Yet somehow, so much richer today.

Wanner, accused in child sex case, is a long-time GOP donor

The donations from an alleged child molester to a political party that promotes itself as a home for family values strikes us as problematic.

FEC drops complaint against Coleman

The Federal Elections Commission said they had cleared a complaint against Coleman's campaign alleging campaign funds were misused to defend himself against allegations in a lawsuit.

DFL candidates line up to run against Bachmann in 2010

In a Congressional district so heated from Rep. Michele Bachmann's near-constant barrage of gaffes and extreme comments, perhaps it's never too early to announce your plans to defeat her in 2010.

Franken outraises Coleman, but both low on cash

Norm Coleman and Al Franken are raking in serious dough for their U.S. Senate seat fight, but they are in need of some big boosts to make it through the upcoming appeals. They've already spent $11 million and there's no end in sight.

GOP lawyers association denies funneling money to Coleman's recount effort

Coleman to use campaign donations for his defense

No charges have been filed against either of them, but Sen. Norm Coleman and his wife, Laurie Coleman, both hi ... More >>

Palin shopper Jeff Larson is just trying to do his job, stay on the down-low

Palin's personal shopper revealed

Coleman calls off negative ads, asks for respect from media

Will Minneapolis pioneer instant runoff voting?

It's no sure bet, and a legal fight looms

Intervyew with the Vampyre

Love Me Two Times

You pay Tony Sutton to serve the state of Minnesota. The Republican Party pays Tony Sutton to serve them.

Maybe a Frist from the future can come back in time and lend Present Frist some cash

Cities 527

Rock gets rolled into federal campaign guidelines

Fear of a Liberal Planet

GOP telemarketers harass the elderly, groove on hip hop, and scream like monkeys

Bush Whacking

Two nice Minnesota boys and the healing power of satire

Gold Rush

Record profits from political ads have critics crying foul

What's in a Domain?

Local politicos find themselves tangled in the Web