BACHMANN: Holding tight to Bush and conservative ideals

WASHINGTON

Michele Bachmann's memorable introduction to a national TV audience came during last January's State of the Union address, when cameras lingered on the freshman Minnesota Republican with her arm around President Bush's shoulder.

A casual hug of some 30 seconds became the defining image of Bachmann's political embrace of an embattled president saddled with an unpopular war in Iraq.

Bachmann came to Washington as an ardent White House ally, a champion of lower taxes, upholder of traditional social values and a defender of the war. She has not backed off.

Where she has challenged White House policies, it has generally been from the right, where at times she feels Bush has strayed from the bedrock conservative principles they share.

She criticized an ill-fated White House plan to beef up border security while providing ways for some illegal immigrants to legalize their status. "It smacked of amnesty," she said. "People in the Sixth District are not in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens."

In the waning days of the 2007 Congress, Bachmann also voted against a key piece of Democratic energy legislation that Bush signed, boosting automotive fuel efficiency standards and ethanol production.

To Bachmann, the bill failed to provide much in the way of "new energy," despite its sixfold increase in ethanol use by 2022, a boon for Minnesota farmers.

"Ethanol is something that has had mixed reviews," she said.

Democrats, who have Bachmann in their cross hairs for next year's congressional elections, were quick to howl about Bachmann's vote against the energy bill, which they see as part of pattern of placing ideology over the practical needs of her state.

Nowhere, they say, was that more evident than in her vote against a major transportation spending bill this fall that included money for the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis and the Northstar commuter rail line, which would run from Minneapolis to Big Lake, near St. Cloud, in the heart of her suburban district.

Bachmann cited an excess of spending, particularly for earmarks that fund pet congressional projects across the nation.

She noted that she authored a "clean" 35W bridge funding bill that was derided and ignored by the new Democratic majority in Congress.

"I'm willing to spend money when it's for infrastructure that's a legitimate duty of government," she said.

The 35W bridge is likely to loom large for Bachmann. The political fallout from the bridge collapse has already drawn in one high-profile opponent, former Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg. He and other DFL critics see Bachmann's position on the bridge as a favor to Bush, who supported the bridge money but wielded a veto threat against the larger transportation bill.

For Democrats, Bachmann's posture was congruent with the image of her State of the Union hug, which they, too, will not let go.

"As if Congresswoman Bachmann's antics were not bad enough," said Ryan Rudominer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "Bachmann continues to place absolute loyalty to President Bush above the middle-class Minnesotans she was elected to represent."

No apologies

A sign of how vulnerable Democrats consider Bachmann was seen in a television campaign launched against her by several labor and liberal interest groups. It attacked her defense of Bush's veto of a children's health insurance expansion.

Her stand fulfilled a pledge to uphold Bush vetoes on appropriations bills that Bachmann signed with 146 other House Republicans. But the pledge did not cover Bush's veto of a water resources bill, which Congress overrode -- with Bachmann's help.

Bachmann cites that vote as another example of her independence. But the former tax attorney makes no apologies for her stands for lower taxes and spending restraint, which Republicans see as congruent with her GOP-leaning district.

"The Democrats are going to need all the help they can get," said Ken Spain of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "They couldn't beat her when it was an open-seat contest in the most Democrat-friendly political environment since Watergate."

As for her nationally televised embrace of an increasingly unpopular president, Bachmann says: "At that point in his presidency, he needed a pat on the back," she said. "I was glad to supply it."

Kevin Diaz • 202-408-2753