(I am a Bachmann analysis junkie, for I cannot figure why she is fundraising MORE money. - promoted by Grace Kelly)
Smart Politics implies Michele Bachmann's mad pursuit of the national right wing media is a strategy for raising money at home.
In short, Congresswoman Bachmann's increased profile is generating her more support at the grass roots level - particularly in Minnesota. This growth can be seen by the fact that Bachmann raised 77.3 percent more money in contributions from individuals in Q1 2009 than in Q1 2007. Bachmann even raised 5.0 percent more money from individuals in Q1 2009 than in Q1 2008 - an election year.
Now, Eric Ostermeier of Smart Politics has a PhD in Political Science and I only have a BA in Detecting BS, but I do beg to differ.
First, we don't know if there is any correlation between national media appearances and increased fundraising of any type. Second, the sort of national media Rep. Bachmann is pursuing - Hannity, Glenn Beck, O'Reilly, etc. - are the most receptive outlet for her extremist views. Actual news media, including those in her home district, have higher standards. (Do read the St. Cloud Times link.)
I am predicting that the Republicans paying for Norm Coleman's legal defense will "guide" Norm Coleman to graciously conceding, when the Election Contest Court rules in the next week. And if that does not happen, then that is great news for Democrats. Here is why:
Norm Coleman is bad news for the image of the Republican party. The Nasser Kazeminy court trial has to move forward with the complete airing of the accusation that Norm Coleman's wife was paid without providing work for that pay. This is bound to lead to stories about how Norman Coleman does not live with his wife and frequently parties. This is also bound to lead to a re-examination of Norm Coleman close relationships with lobbyists including accepting free trips, low cost rent with frequently free utilities, gifts of clothes and frequent campaign contributors. With Norm Coleman as a national Republican hero, there could national traction on Norm Coleman/lobbyist connections! A Star Tribune teaser of stories to come:
The former finance chief of a Texas company controlled by Nasser Kazeminy, a close friend of former Sen. Norm Coleman, said in a deposition last week that Kazeminy ordered $100,000 in fees be paid to a Minneapolis insurance agency where Coleman's wife was employed....Two lawsuits were filed against Deep Marine -- one by McKim and one by a group of minority shareholders. In them, Kazeminy was accused of funneling payments to Hays to benefit the Colemans, as well as other alleged financial wrongdoing.
When I heard of that wikileaks had a copy of the Norm Coleman Contributor database, I thought it was a hoax. So I called a person on the list, a Charles A. Charles had contributed, had all of the talking points, had heard of a "hacker", yet had not understood that it would be a good idea to replace his credit card. Just in case anyone has any doubt about the Coleman culpability, they not only had credit card numbers, they also had the security codes from the back of the card that are never supposed to be kept!
Since this Coleman contributor database became so publically available, I decided that I would look at meta trends of the data. I only considered successful campaign pledges, which totaled $660,000. That seems like a small amount for this court case, so I assume there are additional sources of funds like the Republican National Committee.
One of the talking points of the Coleman campaign has been attacking Franken about getting out-of-state money, yet the Coleman campaign received $448,000 in out-of-state money of the $660,000 total. St Paul, the city where Norm Coleman was originally mayor, does not like Norm. St Paul only contributed $4745 while Minneapolis contributed $16,060. States like Florida, Virginia and Texas were high contributors.
