Minnesotans Doing Anything for Money

by Abe Sauer

Big day for Minnesotans. First, Governor Mark Dayton “siren.gif”-capitulated to the deadlock over the budget and offered to accept the GOP’s pre-shutdown proposal. Except, now the Republicans are, like, “Uh, we didn’t, you know, really mean that.” (Probably because the GOP proposal is to borrow more money.) Ending the state shutdown would mean that the sheriffs who have been issuing concealed handgun permits through the shutdown will now again be able to do the mental health background checks that had been unavailable for two weeks. (Worse fates face the state.)

Meanwhile, one state to the south, Minnesotan presidential candidates are putting together their own revenue-raising proposals. But Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann have taken entirely different tacks.

ESPN’s documentary series 30 for 30 is an award-winning look at the pride, prejudice and passed over of athletic history. It’s highly recommended.

The popularity of the series is probably why Tim Pawlenty’s latest fundraising email (from Pawlenty’s Iowa campaign manager, and Mike Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee) is titled “30 for 30,” asking “With only 30 days to go until the critical Iowa Straw Poll, can I count on you to help our efforts with a $30 donation?”

Huckabee is just the beginning of the “Jesus” portion of Pawlenty’s campaign. In a recent radio ad, Pawlenty mentions his mother’s death when he was 16 and asks Iowans to visit PawlentyFaith.com to watch a six minute video called “The Five Pawlentys You Meet in Heaven” “Aspirations of a President.” But it turns out that faith he leaned on at 16 was his icky Pope-faith. Wife Mary fixed him of that.

Speaking of hating the Pope, Michele Bachmann’s fundraising email, sent within 15 minutes of T-Paw’s, titled “Let’s show Whoopi we won’t stand for her attacks!,” shot back at “The View” host’s characterization of her position on single parents: “As the daughter of a single parent, I learned firsthand the difficulties of growing up with one parent.” (Just like Obama!)

Proving Bachmann doesn’t read all of her own press, she called Goldberg’s attacks “a new low.”

More forward-looking than Pawlenty, Bachmann launched what you might call “40 for 24,” a goal to leverage the “View” controversy to raise $40,000 in a day.

But the kill shot is the graphic in Bachmann’s email.

Why Bachmann even puts words in her emails is anyone’s guess.