Fact check: Is Nancy Pelosi targeting Michele Bachmann?

There is no question 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, Nancy Pelosi, personally making it a priority to remove her from Congress?

Bachmann seems to think so, as did Sean Hannity on his show last night (hear the clips above).

"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 to have origins in a line Bachmann has been repeating for months on television and radio programs.

"I'm public enemy number one right now for Speaker Pelosi." -- October 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." -- October 14, 2009

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

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

Asked where this claim originates, Bachmann's spokesman sent us a link to this Website, which takes its information from a June article in the National Journal's Congress Daily.

The NJ article states that the Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jon Vogel, mentioned Bachmann's seat in a list of three "promising targets" for 2010 (prioritywise, these fall behind the list of five "pickup opportunities").

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

So the controversial Stillwater Republican is a Democratic target. And perhaps Nancy Pelosi curses her name behind closed doors. But the DCCC is not the same thing as the Speaker of the House and Bachmann's statements about Pelosi personally attacking her appear grossly misleading at best.

"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.