Readers write (June 29): Michele Bachmann, state budget, Tom Emmer

The pundits, journalists and headline writers are in full attack mode against Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty. Sunday's Opinion with the huge headline "Seriously?" included a commentary piece by Paul John Scott that described Bachmann's "bomb-thrower persona."

A small front-page headline on Tuesday read, "Her next test may be whether she can outlast scrutiny of a lean legislative record." Many pundits have said that the Republican field is weak, but they've failed to look back.

Our current president had less experience when he was a candidate than all of the candidates in the current Republican field. He had no executive experience and a thin legislative record. He was the most inexperienced president the United States has ever elected.

DARYL WILLIAMSON, EDEN PRAIRIE

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So Michele Bachmann wants to be taken seriously in her run for president. Sure, let's take her seriously. So every time she grossly misstates history or science or even who the Founding Fathers were, voters should take her seriously.

To do so will reveal a person who is seriously ignorant of who, what, how and why the Untied States of America is the nation it is today. Do we really want someone so ill informed to be president? Seriously.

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Bachmann has gone to Iowa to launch her presidential campaign, reclaiming her Iowa roots. As a resident of Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, I say to the good folks of Iowa, "Take my congresswoman, PLEASE!"

GLENN ALLEN, EAST BETHEL, MINN.

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I am left leaning but attempt to make a pragmatic assessment of what I read from the State Capitol. It appears many new members with limited legislative background told their constituents a fairy tale about how they could run government. They now find that the political realities are not encapsulated in the Brothers Grimm.

Ineffective, incendiary and childish.

ERIC WEINBERG, SOUTH ST. PAUL

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Recently, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said it all when she stated: "People depend too heavily on government's critical functions to allow it to falter ..."

But isn't this exactly what Democrats have always wanted and strived for?

The Republican Legislature, though it has proposed government reforms, is simply trying to dig us out of this deficit bottomless pit without job-killing tax increases.

BOB MAGINNIS, EDINA

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Note to Minnesota anti-tax advocates: If you are living in Minnesota because of the tax structure, give me a call. I will help you load your trailer.

DON HILL, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

I read with interest former GOP candidate for governor Tom Emmer's June 28 commentary on why Republicans should not back down from budget negotiations. In particular what caught my eye was where Emmer opined that had it not been for the Twin Cities, he had carried the state by 6 percentage points.

I have argued for quite some time that this state should adopt an electoral style system that is used in federal elections. The electoral system does exactly what the framers designed it to do, and that is to prevent a few states that have vastly larger populations from outweighing the votes of their smaller counterparts.

It would behoove Minnesota to adopt a similar system, by assigning electoral votes to each county. This would also force the candidates to make appearances in each county, rather than bypassing the counties that are either Republican or DFL "locked" areas.

RICHARD O'BRIEN, ALBERTVILLE, MINN.

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Subtracting the two largest cities in Minnesota, with some 670,000 residents, will win you just about anything should fuzzy math be your guide.

I am grateful those people voted. I am grateful they still vote, and that their votes matter. I hate to think what would be happening to Minnesota now if Emmer were the governor.