Campaign finance

Star Tribune Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:51:34 GMT
Bachmann gets financial help from GOP fund

First-term Rep. Michele Bachmann is getting a financial helping hand in her re-election bid from a Republican Party fund that tries to assist candidates who are seen as vulnerable or specificially in the Democrats' cross-hairs. Bachmann is one of 10 Republicans who will get assistance from the party's Regain Our Majority Program (ROMP) 2008, which is overseen by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Also slated to get assistance is state Rep. Erik Paulsen, the only Republican running for the open seat being vacated by longtime Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad. Ramstad's seat is widely considered to be up for grabs because the district is less reliably Republican than it has been in the past. But Bachmann's inclusion on the ROMP assistance list shows how aggressively Democrats have already gone after her. And the help, which based on past ROMP spending patterns could reach $100,000, according to a party spokesman, follows the Democrats' decision to specifically target her. The cash from the ROMP program may be more symbolic than substantive, according to Federal Election Commission records. Through the end of last year, Bachmann already had raised nearly $1.2 million for her re-election bid, triple the amount raised by her two DFL challengers combined.

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