First Rule Of Advanced Hole Management

...is when finding self in hole, STOP DIGGING.

Today's contestant? Michele Bachmann, the lovely GOP Congresswoman who suggested the media should do a major expose' on Congress to see if it's anti-American or not. Not only did this prompt Democrats to give about a million dollars since just last Friday to her challenger, Elwyn Tinklenberg, the DNC is in fact matching that million, and now polls show a seat the Dems can now take on November 4.

There weren't enough chairs for the volunteers crammed inside the four-room campaign office Wednesday morning. Every time aides hit "refresh" on their computers, hundreds more online donations appeared. Downstairs, the postal carrier spent 10 minutes trying to cram a two-foot stack of envelopes stuffed with checks into the mail slot.

"It's been raining money," said Beth DeZiel, 39, the campaign's dazed deputy finance director. "There's so much, we can barely keep up. It's unbelievable."

But this unsolicited good fortune -- $1.3 million since Friday -- isn't based on anything the Democratic former mayor and grandfather of seven did. It's all because of something his rival, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, said.

On Friday afternoon, Bachmann appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and made what has been dubbed the million-dollar mistake: Bachmann, 52, alleged that presidential candidate Barack Obama may hold "anti-American" views, and proposed a media investigation into "the views of the people in Congress [to] find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?"

While Sen. Obama's presidential bid has transformed the way campaigns use the Internet to reach volunteers and donors, the technology has also become a way for the public to instantly react -- even to races in which they can't vote.

Those quick reactions, often in the form of donations, can influence the outcome of a campaign, said Julie Barko Germany, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.

Barko German said "the Internet can be an amplifier," enabling viewers to react instantly to something that incites strong support or fury.

"It's an excellent fundraising tool," she added, citing research indicating that "when you show someone a video online, they donate 10% more."

So at this point, you'd think the Hole Management 101 lessons would kick in: you'd expect a candidate in this situation to own up, apologize, and move past the comments that made a decently easy race into a neck-and-neck one.

But you don't know Shelly Bachmann real well, do ya?

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has dug in further on her position that Barack Obama is against America. Bachmann appeared today on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, and had this to say: "And so, he [Chris Matthews] was using the word "Anti-American" and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama's views. Because Barack Obama's views are against America." And here's what she said on the Mike Gallagher show: "What are Barack Obama's policies? Are they for America, or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?"

The GOP has decided to cut its losses now and leave Shelly's pedicured foot deep in her own throat, and has now cut off her party ad budget.

A Republican source has confirmed to Election Central that the NRCC is indeed pulling all its advertising for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), whose antics since her McCarthyist rant on Hardball have quickly put this once-safe incumbent in serious danger. Several hundred-thousand dollars worth of TV time had previously been reserved on Bachmann's behalf, but now it has all been cancelled, as Huffington Post first reported.

Bear in mind that Bachmann was heavily favored to win re-election before this whole mess happened, but since then her Democratic opponent has received $1.3 million in online donations and another $1 million in commitments from the DCCC. The national party is now directing its attention to other races.

Bachmann could still potentially win, as this district voted 57%-42% for George W. Bush in 2004. But she's now on her own. It's a rare thing for a national party to totally cut off an incumbent, so this should give you an idea of just how unpopular Bachmann is among Washington Republicans right now.

To cut an incumbent off at the knees like that whose seat is now in trouble just two weeks before an election is absoultely unheard of. When your local Congressional Representative becomes a national punch-line, and that person shows zero political skill in damage control, that person will be jettisoned by the Powers That Be.

The GOP doesn't want to help her at all now. They are abandoning her seat to the Dems just two weeks before the election. Given all the losses the GOP will suffer congressionally this year, she just added one more, and the GOP has no desire to even give a damn. That's amazing, especially given the day before she went on Hardball, polls showed she had only a 4-5 point lead in a district where the third party candidate was getting 6-8% and there were still 15% undecideds.

But that was last week. I'm betting those undecideds are a lot less undecided right now.

See ya, Shelly!