Minnesota Congressional races: Better news than nationally

posted at 9:30 am on November 5, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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We did have a couple of bright spots in the wave of blue that washed through Minnesota and the nation in the presidential election.  Minnesota Republicans managed to hold their seats, including Michele Bachmann, who beat he challenger despite a heavy-handed attempt by the DCCC to oust her:

Rep. Michele Bachmann won reelection early Wednesday, fending off a challenge from Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg in a Sixth Congressional District race that came to symbolize the perilous position of Republican incumbents across the nation.

Bachmann held on to a narrow but significant lead over Tinklenberg with 8 of 10 precincts reporting and a dwindling number of areas where he could find enough votes to make up the difference. Bachmann said Tinklenberg called her and conceded shortly after midnight.

Bachmann credited her victory to her vote against the $700 billion financial rescue package and her campaign to open up restricted areas for oil drilling to bring down the price of gasoline.

Bachmann wound up winning by the three-point margin I predicted over the weekend.  Without her gaffe on Hardball in the final two weeks of the campaign, it would have been much wider, but Bachmann managed to survive it by reminding Sixth CD voters of her principles and tireless efforts to keep government in check.  Tinklenberg didn’t stand a chance before the Chris Matthews interview, and in the end couldn’t convert that into a win.

John Kline won in MN-02, handily beating Steve Sarvi to win re-election.  Kline recently joined the no-pork coalition, and this election tested whether Kline’s district — where I live — was mature enough to recognize his efforts.  Kline has built a machine in this district without pork, which is remarkable and commendable for those working on his behalf.

Erik Paulsen managed to beat Aswin Madia to retain the seat of the retiring Jim Ramstad, which comes as a moderate surprise.  We thought Madia might have moved ahead of Paulsen, and when the returns for Obama came in, figured he’d ride the national coattails.  Instead, Madia lost by eight points in a district we thought might be turning purple.

We kept the Republican delegation intact, but that’s not true nationwide.  Republicans lost almost 20 seats as of now, which under the circumstances might not be as bad as one would think.  Eleven seats remain in question, but even if the GOP picks all of them up, we’ll be at 184 seats, with 251 for Democrats.  That will marginalize the Blue Dogs to some extent, but as a group they can still block Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama from the most radical legislation in their agenda.  If Democrats pick up those final eleven, that will make it more difficult for the Blue Dogs to have that effect.  Still, given the scope of Obama’s victory last night, this could have been much, much worse.

Right now, it looks like 1977, with a liberal ideologue for President and large majorities in both chambers of Congress.  The GOP hopes that it will be 1993, where overreach by the Clintons allowed Republicans to wrest control of Congress away from Democrats two years later.  In order for the latter scenario to succeed, the GOP will have to define themselves as a disciplined force for true conservative values, and not just an elephant feeding at the donkey trough, as they turned out to be from 2001-2006.

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