BUFFALO, Minn. -- Rep. Michele Bachmann will appear in the 2010 calendar of "Great American Conservative Women" (she will be November). Her likeness has been transformed into an action figure. And, so far in 2009, she has been interviewed on a national cable news show every nine days, on average, an analysis by Smart Politics, a nonpartisan blog affiliated with the University of Minnesota shows.
Not bad for someone less than three years on the job.
Here in Bachmann's Minnesota district, and in much of America, that outsized celebrity has boiled down to this: They adore her or they loathe her.
As the health-care overhaul moves closer to a full debate in Congress, Bachmann is under attack from the Democratic National Committee for spreading "reckless lies," one of a handful of Republicans singled out as part of the committee's "Call 'Em Out" campaign.
Back home, two Democrats already say they are seeking Bachmann's seat in next year's election, and they are raising a lot of money to do so.
Some of Bachmann's fellow Republicans, meanwhile, are drawing glowing comparisons between her and Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican nominee for vice president. Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host, has introduced Bachmann as "the second-most-hated Republican woman in the country, second to Gov. Palin, which is a good position."
Bachmann's admirers point to her uncompromising, unvarnished stances against big spending, big government programs, tax increases and abortions. Her detractors moan that she opposes anything a Democrat says.
"This is the thing with her," said Brad Biers, a supporter of Bachmann's who is active in the state Republican Party and lives in her district, probably the most conservative in the state. "There's not a whole lot of middle ground. You either like her or don't."
What is beyond dispute is that Bachmann's remarks are seldom dull.
In recent months, she has been particularly outspoken against Democrats' proposals on health care. She has questioned whether Congress has the constitutional authority to set such policy in the first place. She has suggested that one proposal's privacy rules for school-based clinics could open the way for young girls to get referrals for abortions, a notion the proposal's supporters say was never contemplated. And she has said that illegal immigrants will get access to taxpayer-subsidized health care, one among a list of comments by Bachmann that the DNC has attacked as false.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats see her as a wacky purveyor of outrageous claims and criticisms. Leading Republicans wince occasionally at Bachman's appearances on the floor and on television, but they also see her as someone with telegenic appeal who can energize conservatives and aggravate Democrats, and they are not likely to rein her in.
From a distance, it may be hard to picture how Minnesota, the state with the longest-running streak of picking Democrats for president (since 1976), could also have elected Bachmann.
But her district, which stretches from the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, through middle-income exurbs and farmland, and into the smaller city of St. Cloud, is defined by social conservatism, an independent, populist streak, and a significant Roman Catholic population. While the state voted for Barack Obama for president, the Republican nominee John McCain won in this district.
Still, in Bachmann's first bid for re-election in 2008, many speculated that she was in serious trouble. Shortly before the election, she said on "Hardball" on MSNBC that she was "very concerned" that Obama "may have anti-American views." Her Democratic opponent, El Tinklenberg, lost by 3 percentage points.
One of her Democratic opponents next year, Maureen Reed, said Bachmann "injects fear and anger in people, and people don't solve problems well when they're fearful and angry." Reed said her goal was to "dial down the fear, dial down the anger."
Constance Carlson, a resident of Buffalo, seemed ready for such a change.
"I try to avoid listening to her," Carlson said of Bachmann. "Some of her comments are just distracting, conspiracy-type stuff. I never feel there's substance or solutions."
But others here say they wonder whether a Democrat really has a chance.
"She fits this district well," said King Banaian, a Bachmann supporter in St. Cloud. "I think there are a lot of people who want straight talk, and she appeals to them."
