By Mike Kaszuba

For the first time Friday, the delegates at the state Republican convention rose to their feet -- and what did it was having Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann take the stage.

"There's victory in the air. There's victory," said Bachmann, who drew the loudest applause of the morning.

Citing President Ronald Reagan and criticizing "uber liberals", Bachmann gentley reminded delegates that whoever won the Republican gubernatorial endorsement -- Tom Emmer or Marty Seifert -- Republicans needed to put their differences aside and remember that the goal remained beating Democrats in the fall. "There is an extreme radical agenda. . .that not only permeates Washington, D.C., but it permeates almost every state capitol," she said.

Democrats, she said, "were robbing us of our liberties."