Minnesota: House Candidate Tarred with National Sales Tax Brush

Democratic candidates in competitive US House districts clearly see opposition to the national sales tax as a winning issue for them. We noted yesterday that Georgia Representative John Barrow is accusing his opponent, Max Burns, of supporting a national sales tax. The same dynamic has unfolded in Minnesota, where an open seat is at stake.

In a new TV ad, Democratic candidate Patty Wetterling says her opponent, Michele Bachman, supports the national sales tax idea. You can watch the ad here. (The data she cites appears to have come from this ITEP analysis!) As in Georgia, the Republican "supporter" of the national sales tax is running away from the national sales tax idea as fast as she can. On the other hand, one critical difference in Minnesota is that it's not entirely clear Bachman wanted to enact a national sales tax in the first place. Her "support" for the national sales tax appears to have been of the George W. Bush variety-- expressing interest in the idea without actually endorsing it.

But the headline of this story is that in both cases, the GOP candidate is doing their best to avoid being tarred with the "national sales tax supporter" brush. And it's always good to see people running away from bad ideas.