Rep. Michele Bachmann may be missing the fun at the Nashville Tea Party convention (you may recall she ducked out, citing ethical concerns), but Bachmann doesn't need a convention to make news. All she needs is a letterhead. Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent (via the Dump Michele Bachmann blog) stumbled across a fundraising pitch for the American Conservative Union Strikeforce sent out by Bachmann at the end of last year in which she maps out what she believes President Barack Obama's agenda is: "Obama wants to use ACORN to radicalize America because he isn't interested merely in defeating conservatives … HE WANTS TO ANNIHILATE US!  ... That’s the purpose behind ObamaCare, too."

One presumes it was precisely these sorts of statements that encouraged the Buffalo Beast to place Bachmann at No. 4 on its notoriously vicious list of "The 50 Most Loathsome Americans," saying the following of the congresswoman: "Not content to flee back to her exquisitely gerrymandered 97% white district after last year’s suggested witch-hunt against liberal congressmen, Bachmann instead decided to make public lunacy her new religion, bleating out increasingly demented and lucrative conspiracy theories about the evil forces behind the census, foreign currencies, foreign anything, environmental regulation, evil gays posing as intolerant homophobes, evil gays targeting children, and of course, commies, commies, commies."

Thursday morning also found Bachmann at the National Prayer Breakfast -- a contentious event for people who are concerned about the separation of church and state (atheists have been especially critical), but a popular one among Washington politicos. Bachmann wasn't alone there, either, as the Prayer Breakfast is a virtual who's who of Washington: President Obama spoke, as did Hillary Clinton; Sen. Amy Klobuchar co-chaired. Many of the criticisms leveled against the event are related to it being organized by The Family — the Guardian maps out some of these concerns, in particular the group's relationship to Uganda's proposed death penalty for homosexuals (Further, from Rachel Maddow). Indeed, Obama directly addressed the issue at the Breakfast, saying, "[S]urely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda."

Bachmann didn't have anything to say on the issue, at least publicly. Instead, she told CBN that the "whole focus of this event is Jesus Christ, and we share our faith around the table and usually it’s with people from all around the world ... I think it’s important people acquaint themselves with our nation’s history and not forget that in order for our nation to be strong, individuals have to be strong. And as members of Congress, many of us find our strength in the Bible, in the Word of God."

City Pages' Hart Van Denburg informs us that Bachmann will soon be attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, which Pawlenty will also attend. This is an interesting reversal, as, unlike the Tea Party event, which Sarah Palin attended and Bachmann didn't, the forthcoming CPAC event is one that Palin bowed out of, reportedly out of concerns that the far right John Birch society is a co-sponsor. Other groups have been pulling out of the conference as well, but not because of the Birchers — no, according to Think Progress, it's because one of the co-sponsors is a group that promotes gay rights.

Did somebody say Pawlenty? It looks like the fight that's been long predicted is about to happen: Pawlenty has explicitly threatened to veto any bonding bill that's higher than the $685 million one he proposed, but, as MinnPost's Joe Kimball reports, DFL lawmakers went ahead and introduced a bill that comes in at just under a billion dollars. But Doug Grow makes the case that this might not be the knock-down, drag-out cage match it seems: He reminds us that bonding bills tends to be fairly nonpartisan, and claims that the mood of the Legislature is such that everybody wants something good to happen. Perhaps so, but it strikes us at the Daily Glean that Pawlenty is trying to establish a national reputation as an executive that can enforce discipline and keep prices down, and we see him standing at the ready like a Wild West gunfighter, shaking hands hovering just above his veto pen, just waiting for the opportunity to draw it out. But, then, we watch far too many cowboy movies.

Pawlenty, however, does seem to be scratching at the sod with the tip of his shoe and hurtling insults at the opposition, such as his recent claim that he was defying "Obama's orders" by going to Las Vegas to campaign against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. What orders were those? Well, City Pages asks the same question, and apparently Pawlenty was responding to Obama's comment that "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime." Of course, Obama intended that directive to CEOs who has been bailed out by government but were still giving themselves lavish bonuses. In public school in England, this was called button polishing — you'd literally grab somebody else's coat button just to be irritating, in the hope that it would start a fight. Usually worked, too.

If you need more evidence that Pawlenty is feeling fighty, there were his comments at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce dinner on Thursday, reported by Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck, where he compared his approach to keeping taxes down to Tiger Wood's recent domestic dispute and assault: "I think it's just like Tiger Woods' wife ... we should take a nine iron to the back windshield of big government spending." It was the second Tiger Woods joke Pawlenty told that night; apparently, he just heard the news.

Lest you think this is the all-Pawlenty/Bachmann edition of Daily Glean, there is also some news about Sen. Al Franken, which is sort of the trifecta of Minnesota politicos with big public personas. In Franken's case, he's voicing opposition to a deal in which Comcast Corp. would take control of NBC Universal, reported by the Associated Press. His objection: "When the same company produces the programs and runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous." The AP reminds us that Franken actually worked for NBC for nearly two decades when he was with "Saturday Night Live."

Sometimes it's nice to go a little farther afield in looking for sports news -- take the Shakopee Valley News' coverage of the forthcoming Twins season, authored by Kristin Holtz. Ignore the overly generalized headline ("Twins are serious about winning"?); the story itself is a good summary of how the new Twins lineup looks exceptionally promising (specifically: "seven All Stars, two AL MVPs, a batting champion, the holder of 12th place on the home run list and two Rawlings gold glove winners.") Holtz also cautions that the Twins' pitching lineup might be their weak link. It's concise, informed, and cleanly written. It's hard enough to find big-city writers who can do as much.