There is no question Rep. Michele Bachmann is a target of the left, which helps her raise a lot of money from her conservative base. But is one of the most powerful people in Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, making it a personal priority to remove Bachmann from Congress?

Bachmann, right, seems to think so, as did talk show host Sean Hannity on his television show Thursday night.

"Nancy Pelosi has specifically targeted you as the number one person that -- as a Republican -- that she would like to see defeated," Hannity said.

That statement appears rooted in a line Bachmann has repeated for months on radio and television:

"I'm public enemy number one right now for Speaker Pelosi." -- Oct. 7, 2009

"And I think that's why Speaker Pelosi has made me her number one congresswoman to defeat next year. She just released a list, and I'm at the top of her list to defeat next year." -- Oct. 14, 2009

"I think the other part is that I am one of the chief targets of Speaker Pelosi for defeat next year." -- Oct. 14, 2009

"Nancy Pelosi has made me about her top target through every vehicle that there is out there." -- Oct. 21, 2009

"Speaker Pelosi has made me, I think, about her number one target to defeat next year." -- Dec. 14, 2009

Asked where this claim originates, Bachmann's spokesman sent the Star Tribune a link to a website that cites a June article in the National Journal's Congress Daily.

The article states that the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Jon Vogel, listed Bachmann's seat among three "promising targets" for 2010 (priority-wise, these fall behind a list of five "pickup opportunities").

Bachmann also is on a recently released DCCC list of 26 races to watch in 2010.

So the controversial Stillwater Republican is a Democratic target.

But the DCCC is not the same thing as the Speaker of the House, and Bachmann's statements about Pelosi personally attacking her appear misleading at best.

Her spokesman, Dave Dziok, reasoned that the Democratic Party is making Bachmann a target and that Pelosi is the leader of Democrats in the House. He also noted Pelosi spoke unfavorably about Bachmann when the Minnesota congresswoman famously called for an investigation into whether members of Congress were pro- or anti-America.

"It dishonors the position that she holds and discredits her as a person," Pelosi said in 2008.

But is Pelosi instructing the DCCC to make Bachmann's seat a priority? When asked if there was a connection, Dziok wrote in an e-mail, "There's no on-the-record directive, to my knowledge, from Pelosi to the DCCC" to pursue Bachmann.

A spokeswoman for the DCCC, Gabby Adler, says that while Bachmann is on a list of 26 races to watch, "her recent claims are nothing more than Bachmann's affinity for theatrics and wishful thinking over facts. ..."

ERIC ROPER

Moe spreads the wealth

After two decades as Minnesota Senate majority leader, Roger Moe has a lot of friends. This year, many of them are running for governor.

So, the Erskine DFLer is stepping up to help ... nearly all of them.

Moe has held house parties, plans such parties or has written checks to eight of the 12 candidates for governor, including state Sen. Tom Bakk, former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, former state Rep. Matt Entenza, former state Sen. Steve Kelley, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, state Rep. Paul Thissen and state Rep. Tom Rukavina.

Another former colleague and gubernatorial candidate, Sen. John Marty, is not on the list. Moe says he's not shunning his old friend. Moe is a registered lobbyist, and Marty does not take lobbyist money.

RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER