MINNEAPOLIS — The national fundraising committee for GOP congressional candidates has canceled its Twin Cities TV advertising for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is using the flap over her comments about Barack Obama to raise money on her own.
The National Republican Congressional Committee pulled ads scheduled to begin running Monday through Election Day. The ads were canceled Tuesday after several days in which Bachmann was the subject of criticism for her televised remark Friday that Obama “may have anti-American views.”
Her Democratic-Farmer-Labor opponent, El wyn Tinklenberg, reports receiving $1.3 million in donations since Bachmann made the comment in response to a question from Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball.” In addition, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has pledged $1 million to help Tink lenberg.
The Bachmann campaign held a $1 million advantage in cash over Tinklenberg at the end of September. In a letter Wednesday to subscribers of a national conservative online newsletter, Bachmann wrote that her office has been deluged with calls “full of hate and anger” since her comments. Writing that the “Far Left” has given large sums to Tink lenberg, Bachmann appealed to the subscribers for contributions.
A Republican source confirmed Wednesday that the NRCC is pulling its funding out of the 6th District race.
A Bachmann spokeswoman said the campaign had considered the NRCC ads to be “icing on the cake.” David Wasserman, an analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said Bachmann can raise enough cash to “saturate Minneapolis television for the rest of the campaign” and that he doubts the GOP sees the race as a lost cause.
Colorado
