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U.S. House: 6th District By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor MINNEAPOLIS — Just 18 days out from the election, Labor-endorsed Elwyn Tinklenberg’s bid to unseat incumbent Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District race drew an outpouring of state and national support — thanks to explosive comments Bachmann made on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Bachmann accused presidential candidate Barack Obama and also members of Congress for holding “anti-American” views. Public outcry was immediate. For Tinklenberg, the comments illustrated once again “the extremism and divisiveness that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann brings, and which our entire country now knows.” The Sixth District, home to about 60,000 union members, stretches across the north metro area from the St. Croix River to St. Cloud. “We’ve made this race about the economy, about jobs, about working families,” Tinklenberg told the Labor Review earlier. “Eighty percent of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track,” he noted. “It’s the track George Bush put us on.” And, he added, “the one thing we know about Michele Bachmann is how thoroughly she has embraced the President.” Indeed, Bachmann has voted with President Bush more than 90 percent of the time. She voted to make Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of Americans permanent. And, at the same time, she voted against an increase in the minimum wage. She even urged that the minimum wage should be eliminated. “She’s going to have trouble making the case she’s an independent voice for Minnesota when her voice and the voice of George Bush has been almost identical,” Tinklenberg said. This year in Congress, first-termer Bachmann has voted for working family issues only three times out of the 13 votes tracked so far by the AFL-CIO. Tinklenberg has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, DFL Party and Independence Party. Tinklenberg served Governor Jesse Ventura as Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation. He is a former mayor of Blaine and a former Methodist minister. Contact:
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