"This is the super-secret hand sign; only tell other true believers!" (jezebel.com).
by Tony Petrangelo
Jul 22, 2012, 7:00 AM

The Weekly Wrap 7-22

♣ Michele Bachmann has taken a pummeling this week for allegations she made concerning Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State, Huma Abedin.

The allegation itself is summed up pretty well by Jon Stewart.

My thoughts on the matter are pretty well summed up by Eric Black:

I’m not really sure why this case is being treated so differently from Bachmann’s other departures from caution and factuality, but something is going on.

Indeed. Could we be seeing the emergence of the post-etch-a-sketch shake Republican party?

KSTP released a poll on the Marriage Amendment conducted by their survey partners SurveyUSA on Friday. The toplines of the poll are pretty brutal, 52% in support of the amendment and 37% against. I’ll have a full write-up on Monday.

♣ The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on July 31st in the matter of, champion of all people, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie versus the petty, two-bit haters who are trying to take away peoples’ rights.

Mark Ritchie, using the power granted to him by state law, changed the titles of the two constitutional amendments that are to appear on the ballot this November to better reflect their actual content.

In both cases, the two-bit haters aligned in support of these odious amendments filed suit to stop Secretary Ritchie from doing his job. But haters gotta hate and you know that you’re doing your job when they’re hating on you.

♣ The Uptake has an interview with Mike Dean of Common Cause Minnesota about the fallout of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board’s ruling vis-a-vis the MNGOP and Tony Sutton and what actions he plans to take next.

♣ In a related link, Briana Bierschbach has an excellent article about Tony Sutton’s complete and total failure as chairman of the MNGOP. The money quote comes from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board report on the matter:

The RPM had a chair who was busy with fundraising and his own business and believed that the finance director and the party unit’s compliance company were responsible for preparation of the reports. The RPM had a compliance company that disavows any responsibility for campaign finance reports other than to put data into a system and print out the reports. And finally, the RPM had a treasurer who placed all of his reliance on these three individuals. Given that situation, it is no surprise that the RPM reports were inaccurate.

♣ Former US Senator Norm Coleman’s 501(c)(4), American Action Network announced an $860,000 ad buy. The reason why has to do with the above link:

The AAN has launched a $10 million effort to support Republican candidates in “orphan states,” or those with competitive races but with state parties that are struggling financially. The group has said Minnesota will be one of the states it focuses on this fall.

♣ Alliance for a Better Minnesota released a video all about the GOP freshman class.

The serendipity of the lyrics of the song fitting so well with the video is kinda fun, but I eventually had to hit mute before my ears began to bleed.

Thanks for your feedback. If we like what you have to say, it may appear in a future post of reader reactions.