Michele Bachmann: Who are the anti-Bachmann bloggers?
Michele Bachmann鈥檚 star is on the rise. Her poll numbers are climbing. The donations are rolling in. And the press is scrambling for any scraps about her character, her past, what makes her tick. Digging deep into the Minnesota Republican鈥檚 record, reporters have found some tantalizing material: her alleged ties to the hatemongering pastor , her work to get a pardon for Ponzi schemer , and her husband鈥檚 apparent reference to gays as 鈥�.鈥�
They鈥檙e juicy stories and they鈥檝e gotten plenty of attention nationwide. But they aren鈥檛 news鈥攁 small cluster of bloggers in Minnesota broke all those stories years ago.
These are interesting times for Eva Young, Ken Avidor, and a handful of other contributors who write the , a small online outpost that punches way above its weight class. For seven years, Young and her compadres have devoted long hours to cataloguing Bachmann鈥檚 every move, first as an obscure state senator and then in the U.S House. Now the object of their attention is suddenly the front runner in Iowa, and a leading contender for the 2012 GOP nomination. Rather than celebrating their prescience, the bloggers sound downright dismayed.
IN PICTURES: Michele Bachmann, presidential candidate
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to blog about her,鈥� says Avidor, who has become the site鈥檚 most prolific poster. 鈥淚鈥檝e quit three times. She鈥檚 not worth of even being considered a possible candidate. But unfortunately, she鈥檚 become a more serious joke.鈥�
Dump Bachmann isn鈥檛 the first local political blog to suddenly draw the attention of a national media hungry for leads. Just ask the folks at , an Alaskan site that hit the big time when its target, Sarah Palin, did the same. But the Minnesota blog stands out for its early influence鈥攁nd the political pedigree of its founder, Young, who, like Bachmann, is a Republican woman who has achieved a level of notoriety in the ranks of the state party.
Young, a Minneapolis resident who works in information technology as her day job, began the blog seven years ago, after stints as president of the Minnesota Log Cabin Republicans, the gay GOP group, and on the national board of the Log Cabin Republicans. She cut a quirky figure鈥攁n who spoke her mind, commented up a storm on political sites, and didn鈥檛 hesitate to buck party orthodoxy. State GOP leaders don鈥檛 know quite what to make of her. 鈥淚 probably haven鈥檛 talked to her in 10 years, but she was always kind of out there even then,鈥� says Tony Sutton, the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. 鈥淪he was a liberal Republican鈥攐r a liberal; I鈥檓 not sure she was really a Republican.鈥�
Young began fixating on Bachmann as the rising star鈥檚 views on gay rights came into view in the early 2000s. The pol鈥檚 staunch opposition to gay marriage and comments suggesting homosexuality was akin to "鈥� and 鈥減art of Satan鈥� cried out for more scrutiny, in Young鈥檚 view. 鈥淭he mainstream media would cover the things that she wanted them to cover, which is she would say things in one way when she was speaking to the mainstream media and then say something completely different when she was talking to her base or going on 海角大神 radio,鈥� Young says. So she began collecting 鈥�." In the spring of 2004, Dump Bachmann was born.
At times, it has been a lonely road. Allies turned to enemies along the way, decrying what they describe as 鈥渙bsessive鈥� tendencies in Young and her crew. Mitch Berg, who writes the conservative and lives in St. Paul, says he used to be a friendly acquaintance. But he鈥檚 now an adversary, especially since Berg and Young got into a after Young allegedly posted his personal email to a blog while blasting comments he鈥檇 made about the perceived aggressiveness of lesbians.
Berg dismisses Dump Bachmann鈥檚 work as sensationalist. 鈥淚 get the impression that they think their ends justify their means,鈥� he says. 鈥淸Young is] probably the least deranged of the bunch鈥攁nd I don鈥檛 mean to throw the 鈥榗razy鈥� term around lightly. But they鈥檝e taken leave of the facts and substituted supposition for evidence.鈥� Berg claims that no one really pays attention to the blog at home in Minnesota鈥攊ts 3,000 visitors are dwarfed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which draws 1,000 times that much a day. But even he acknowledges the group鈥檚 influence, theorizing that its anti-Bachmann onslaught may have actually helped her in her tight 2006 race for the House.
Young鈥檚 compatriots are more traditional bomb throwers. Avidor, an artist, is a liberal New York native and mass-transit enthusiast who was a Green Party member for a time. Karl Bremer, a third contributor who also writes his own 鈥攚hich also doggedly pursues Bachmann-related stories鈥攊s a former professional journalist with a graying goatee and a stint at a craft brewery on his r茅sum茅.
It鈥檚 time-consuming work; Young, who says she鈥檚 cut back recently despite Bachmann鈥檚 rise, often spent two hours a day on the subject over the years. But it鈥檚 paying off. Along with a handful of other outlets鈥攊ncluding the and G. R. Anderson, a former writer for the Twin Cities alternative weekly City Pages now best known for being by Rolling Stone鈥擸oung and her fellow travelers have laid much of the groundwork for big national outlets, helping to establish a picture of Bachmann鈥檚 political past. Bremer also from the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in June.
With their influence has come the sinking sensation of seeing other, bigger outlets borrowing their work. The Wall Street Journal scored a p on July 11 about how the anti-tax Bachmann鈥檚 only stint in the professional world included collecting taxes for the federal government. But Dump Bachmann in March 2006. Bremer went so far as to contact the Los Angeles Times after that paper about Bachmann receiving government aid for a family farm without crediting earlier versions. 鈥淏ulls--t! I broke it in 2007,鈥� Bremer says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating seeing national media come in here and think they can scoop us for our work for the last 10 years. I鈥檝e spent hours driving to the other side of the district to plow through court records that aren鈥檛 online, or staying up until 3 in the morning going through campaign reports on the FEC,鈥� Bremer says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if somebody comes in and uses my research, but gimme a link or credit!鈥�
Antipathy for the mainstream media gives the Dump Bachmann crew common cause with their quarry, who by and large keeps the national press at arm鈥檚 length. Like Sarah Palin, to whom she鈥檚 frequently compared, Bachmann is adept at using the press as a foil and punching bag. After she was mocked for mixing up Concord, N.H., and Concord, Mass., Bachmann , 鈥淲e all know there鈥檚 a double standard in the media 鈥� As we know, all 3,400 members of the mainstream media are part of the Obama press contingent.鈥� Young鈥檚 frustration at what she sees as lazy and biased reporting by the Minnesota media has remained a unifying and inspiring force for Dump Bachmann. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be doing this if the mainstream press had done its job,鈥� Avidor says.
Hunter and prey also share an almost messianic sense of purpose. Prior to her announcement that she would run for president, Bachmann painted herself as a reluctant candidate, searching for a sign from God. 鈥淚f I felt that's what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it," she told . "When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I've said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That's really my standard.鈥�
Young also feels a calling, though not a religious one. 鈥淧art of what has made me continue is I knew there were readers who continued to read it,鈥� says Young, who considers herself an independent these days. 鈥淭here are people who are anxious awaiting the latest news, and you feel like you can鈥檛 let them down.鈥� Bremer recalls branching out from Dump Bachmann to start Ripple in Stillwater so he could write on other topics鈥攐nly to find that most of his posts ended up focusing on the congresswoman after all.
The bloggers and Bachmann have only rarely crossed paths. Young says she鈥檚 spoken with the congresswoman three times, and describes each encounter as relatively civil. She鈥檚 , and once questioned Bachmann at a debate. 鈥淪he kept saying, 鈥極h, everybody, that鈥檚 Eva Young.鈥� I don鈥檛 think anyone knew why that was important.鈥� After the event, she even scheduled a lunch date with an aide. More recently, though, the bloggers say they鈥檝e been unable to get calls to Bachmann鈥檚 office returned.
The bloggers know that they鈥檙e entering a fateful passage; Bachmann has said she won鈥檛 run for reelection, and despite her current strength in early soundings in Iowa, the odds that she'll win the GOP nomination are long. Could it be that the end is near for Dump Bachmann? 鈥淪he鈥檒l be gone som day, and maybe we鈥檒l be able to write about somebody else,鈥� Bremer says with a tinge of weariness. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always another fraud to write about.鈥�
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David Graham is a reporter for Newsweek covering politics, national affairs, and business. His writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The National in Abu Dhabi.
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