Sen. Tarryl Clark has been telling people over recent days that she was heading that way, and now I'm confident that she will seek the DFL nomination for Congress to run for the seat held by arch-conservative Republican Michele Bachmann. I haven't been able to speak to Clark directly about it. But since I first posted this morning, I have spoken to more DFLers, with direct knowledge of her plans, who confirm that Clark is in the race for Congress and is assembling a campaign staff.

UPDATE: STATEMENT FROM TARRYL CLARK

In response to my post this a.m., Clark authorized one of her political associates to convey this statement:

"Sen. Clark is not ready to formally announce her candidacy for Congress from the Sixth District, but recently she has spent a great deal of time meeting with political leaders and key donors in the Sixth and across the state. She’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support she’s received. She knows how important it is to make a decision soon and wants to hit the ground running if she decides to run. She’ll formally announce her decision in the near future."

Clark, 47, of St. Cloud, is a lawyer, a DFL state senator and assistant majority leader. She has been mentioned for seemingly every recent political opening over the past two cycles and had been rumored to be thinking about the race for governor. But she will avoid that crowded field and instead enter the also-fairly-crowded field for DFL endorsement in the 6th.

Elwyn Tinklenberg, who has run in the 6th twice before and was the Dem nominee last time, is also preparing to run. Tinklenberg, a former mayor of Blaine and state transportation commissioner during the Ventura administration, lost an endorsement fight to Patty Wetterling in 2006 when the congressional seat was open. (Wetterling went on to lose to Bachmann.) Tinklenberg won the DFL endorsement and nomination in 2008 but his campaign did not catch fire nor receive much attention until close to Election Day when Bachmann's crazy statements about Barack Obama being "anti-American" brought tremendous attention to the race and big money to the Tinklenberg campaign. Bachmann still won, by 46-43 percent, with the Independence Party nominee receiving 10 percent.

Until Clark's entry, Tinklenberg had been presumed to be the likely Bachmann challenger for 2010. Tinklenberg has been criticized as a lacklustre campaigner, but some felt that if he had top national campaign help and stayed active for a full two-year cycle, he could improve. He has not announced that he will run again but he did hire Dana Houle, a national campaign operative who has helped Dem candidates defeat two House Repub incumbents in recent years.

UPDATE: RESPONSE FROM TINKLENBERG'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER:

“We’ve recently heard that  Tarryl Clark has changed her mind about running for govoernor and is now considering running for Congress. She hasn’t spoken to Elwyn, but we’ve heard the same rumors.”

[My question to Houle: Assuming Clark does get in, how does it change the race:]

“It would distract us from running full-time against Michele Bachmann, which would be unfortunate, but if we have to fight for the nomination, that’s what we’ll do.”

Dr. Maureen Reed, who was the Independence Party nominee for lieutenant governor in 2006, has announced that she will seek endorsement by both the DFL and the Independence-ites for the seat. Reed, a physician and former chair of the U of M Board of Regents, is something of an untested politician but reported an impressive start to her fundraising. It's possible that if she fails to win the DFL endorsement, Reed could stay in the race representing the Independence Party. (Which means, given Clark's entry, it's possible this could be a three-way all-female contest.)

I spoke to Reed, who said Clark's entry would not change her plans in any way: "Our race is the same, regardless of who's in it." Reed will seek both endorsements. When I asked whether, if she loses the Dem endorsement, she would run in a primary, Reed said: "Plan A is to get the endorsement. Plan B is to make Plan A work."

After 2008, some DFLers concluded that if Bachmann couldn't be defeated in 2008, with Obama-mania elevating Dem turnout everywhere and with Bachmann creating a major embarrassment in the last days of the campaign, she might be unbeatable in the Repub-leaning district, at least until the district lines are redrawn, which will occur before the 2012 cycle. Clark apparently thinks otherwise. She will have to give up her state Senate seat to run for Congress, unless she is eliminated from the race in time to seek another Senate term.

Among the reasons Clark has been considered so promising in DFL circles is that in 2005, in a special election, she won that Senate seat in a district that had been solidly Republican, then held the seat by a double-digit margin in the regular 2006 election. Articulate and attractive, Clark has often been the public face of the Senate DFL caucus.

Clark is an abortion rights supporter, which will make it easier for her to attract national Democratic financial support (Emily's List?), but could complicate her chances in the 6th District, which is the most anti-abortion of Minnesota's congressional districts. The district stretches from St. Cloud/Stearns County on the west, arches acorss the north metro suburbs and exurbs, including parts of Anoka County, and reaches the Wisconsin border on the east (Stillwater and Washington counties).

Clark was encouraged to run by some Washington Democrats, who have grown skeptical of Tinklenberg's ability to win the seat.