| Ladies and Gentlemen, your new (assuming no successful lawsuits) 2012 congressional map, featuring a potential smackdown between DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum and Republican Michele Bachmann in the new Fourth district.
This is going to be interesting. I'm going to let TonyAngelo take the lead on this piece, and the rest of us will follow along from his (RAPID) analysis.
What we know right now is this: At the congressional level, this is largely a "status quo" and "what we figured had to happen" map. The 3rd district gets slightly redder by giving up Brooklyn Center and part of Edina to Keith Ellison's safe-democratic 5th district, and pulling in parts of Carver County to the southwest. The biggest story here is the inclusion of Michele Bachmann's hometown of Stillwater in Betty McCollum's relatively safe-democratic 4th district -- if Bachmann wants to run against McCollum, she has a tall order ahead; if she wants to remain a resident of her 6th district she'll have to move.
Update: Bachmann's people are saying she'll run in the 6th. Probably a smart move (more to come from Tony and Bill P on that topic). Too bad she's running away from a real fight that would get her outside her Fox News bubble. |
