Perhaps it was inevitable that Rep. Michele Bachmann's challengers in the Sixth District would unveil maps of the conservative lawmaker's national travels. But who knew they would do it simultaneously?
Tarryl Clark and Maureen Reed, both Democrats, have each rolled out maps in the last 24 hours tracking Bachmann's speaking appearances. Reed, who also included national funding, even presented the graphic on a new standalone website: wheresmichele.com.
It's safe to say that this is emerging as a major theme among Democrats in the the Sixth District. See the maps below.
UPDATE: Hot Dish received a call several minutes ago from Reed's campaign manager, Jason Isaacson, who was quite irked by the whole situation.
Isaacson said their campaign spent several weeks researching and developing the map, and he was suspicious that the Clark campaign copied their idea after seeing it last night.
"It's one thing to copy us by buying bigger signs … but when you look at this kind of thing where it's just kind of blatantly ripping off my people's hard work and efforts that kind of frustrates us," Isaacson said. Clark campaign manager Zach Rodvold unequivocally denied that Reed's map inspired theirs in any way, calling it a "funny coincidence." He said their map is merely one part of an entirely new section of their Web site, "The Bachmann agenda," which has been in the works for some time. Their rollout, he added, was planned to coincide with Bachmann's trip to Ohio today.
