Liberals rejoiced when Michele Bachmann announced her intention to retire from Congress at the end of 2014. Bachmann will no longer be around to carry the tea party banner in Congress. But she's almost guaranteed to be replaced by another far-right conservative. Minnesota's 6th District skews heavily Republican—voting 56 percent for Romney in 2012. Whichever GOPer emerges from the primary should easily waltz to a general election win in November. And that successor could either be a Bachmann clone or Minnesota's own version of Grover Norquist.
The race is between two candidates from diverging wings of the Republican Party: There's Tom Emmer, the social conservative who hews closely to Bachmann, and Phil Krinkie, a small-business owner whose mission in life is to block tax increases,,,
Emmer, a failed gubernatorial candidate from 2010, closely replicated the Bachmann model. For his first major bill after he entered the Minnesota House in 2005, Emmer proposed that the state medically castrate sex offenders. That was just the beginning of a career defined by extreme views. He's unsure when quizzed about evolution. He favors harsh immigration laws—Arizona's punitive 2010 law was a "wonderful first step." He thinks a minimum wage for restaurant staff is a silly concept: "With the tips that they get to take home, they are some people earning over $100,000 a year," Emmer said during his 2010 campaign.
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His main opponent might present an appealing alternative for a state Republican Party trying to repair its image after major losses in 2012. Phil Krinkie, a fellow former House member, is equally conservative but emphasizes a different agenda. Where Emmer is the descendant of Jerry Falwell, Krinkie takes his cues from Grover Norquist—with his obstinate opposition to tax increases,,,
Meet the Next Michele Bachmann | Mother Jones
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