It’s now official. El Tinklenberg is dropping out of the race to remove Michele Bachmann (R-Mars) from her seat for Minnesota’s sixth Congressional District. Apparently, there were enough Democrats interested in sending Michele a one way ticket back to Crazytown that Tinklenberg didn’t want to be involved in the internecine bloodbath. This may be a result of too many Democrats sensing that Bachmann is going to be particularly vulnerable, or just the usual jousting for a shot at moving up in the pecking order. He explains at length on his website today.

I am announcing that as of today I am terminating my campaign for Congress. This is obviously not an easy decision for me, but I have come to the conclusion that it’s the right one. While the image of the next campaign against Michele Bachmann is certainly energizing, the path to that campaign is becoming increasingly improbable. I’m proud of our last campaign. We did better than anyone outside the campaign expected…

Now, however, we are faced with the prospect of the next thirteen months being a battle among Democrats. In a difficult district during tough financial times we will be spending large amounts of time and money trying to defeat each other rather than defeating Michele Bachmann. This is not the kind of campaign I want to wage nor is it a campaign that strengthens our chances of electing a Democrat next fall.

This should open up the runway a bit for Assistant State Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, who I let you know about before. Given the current trajectory of this Congress, particularly in matters of minding the public purse, I’m leaning heavily toward getting as many Republicans elected next year as possible. I will, however, make an exception in the case of Minnesota 6 and send a donation to whoever winds up running against Bachmann. That’s a special kind of crazy that we don’t need in the United States Congress, no matter which way she votes on any given bill.

Good luck, Ms. Clark. Let us know where to send our dimes and nickels.

Update: More at Memeorandum is popping up on this story.