The contender El Tinklenberg might have been

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann vs. DFL challenger El Tinklenberg: It's the "what if" race of 2006, come to life, sort of, in 2008.

Two years ago, there was plenty of chatter about the open-seat congressional contest in the Sixth District, the hook-shaped north-suburban span from St. Cloud to Stillwater. More than a little of the talk was of the "what if" kind: What if the DFL's seven-ballot endorsement battle that spring had been won not by child-safety advocate Patty Wetterling, but by former state transportation commissioner and Blaine mayor Tinklenberg?

The silver-haired, policy-schooled former United Methodist minister would have been the more effective foil for a charismatic conservative like Bachmann, some wags insisted. At debates, Wetterling would come across as sincere but less than fully assured or prepared. On TV, she'd run ads that fussed about tax policy but steered clear of Bachmann's record as the Legislature's most outspoken social-issue zealot.

It wouldn't have been so with Tinklenberg, the what-iffers alleged. He's a pro. He'd take 'er on.

That big talk came to mind Wednesday night at Stillwater City Hall, at the overdue first matchup of first-termer Bachmann with Tinklenberg and the Independence Party's Bob Anderson. (Tinklenberg has the Independence Party's endorsement, but state law wouldn't permit his name to appear in two columns on the primary ballot. That created an opening for Anderson, a small business owner with scant qualifications but the perfect name for a Minnesota politician. Who doesn't know a Bob Anderson?)

A crowd came, spoiling for a verbal joust. They heard a polite discussion. The candidates' differences were nicely laid before the audience, not hurled with the oomph needed to lodge them firmly in memory.

The differences between the two big-party candidates are gaping. For example, Bachmann voted twice against rescuing Wall Street last week, insisting that changes in accounting rules and business tax cuts are sufficient remedy for the credit crisis.

Tinklenberg would have voted yes on the bailout plan that finally took shape.

He faulted the U.S. House for creating "uncertainty and chaos" on Wall Street with its first vote on Monday. He told of a major housing project in Forest Lake that was stopped last week when credit markets stalled. But he stopped short of calling Bachmann's stance what it is -- dangerously wrong.

He was more forceful when he characterized Bachmann's enthusiasm for more oil drilling as a "drain America first" policy. But he didn't make hay with her insistence in recent weeks that offshore oil drilling today would mean the return of $2-per-gallon gasoline tomorrow.

He struck a glancing blow when he faulted Republican leaders for punitive action against their own legislators who "voted 'state first'" for more transportation funding in February. But he didn't tag Bachmann by name for being part of the woodshed crew.

It was a B-minus performance from someone trying to unseat an incumbent. Tinklenberg would have scored higher had the calendar still said 2006 and these two were vying for an open seat. Then the debate would have been the first of many in a high-profile race. The big-party candidates would be duking it out over the airwaves by now. A debate like Wednesday's would have been a supplementary affair.

Instead, this debate was likely the first of only three, and the news coverage it generated mattered. Paid broadcast time and the money that buys it have been going elsewhere thus far.

That could yet change. The Washington controllers of Democratic campaign money could yet observe that Minnesota's Sixth District has been hit hard in the pocketbook during the George W. Bush years. They could decide that a congresswoman whose most memorable act in the last two years was a particularly warm embrace of that president is vulnerable.

But unless and/or until a more visible air war begins, Tinklenberg will need to do all he can to not just sell his own ideas, but to point out deficiencies in Bachmann's. If he doesn't, his failure to do so will be fodder for the "what-if" post-mortems after this election.

Lori Sturdevant is an editorial writer and columnist. She can be reached at lsturdevant@startribune.com.