Former Vice President Walter Mondale has sent an email asking for immediate campaign contributions for state Sen. Tarryl Clark’s campaign for the U.S. House seat held by Rep. Michele Bachmann. 

Today is the end of the fundraising quarter for political candidates, so Mondale notes: “Tarryl needs your financial support before midnight to demonstrate that she is running a winning campaign.”

Says Mondale:

“It will take an unprecedented campaign to defeat Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Despite her unconscionable defense of BP, Bachmann enjoys a level of celebrity that makes her a formidable opponent. It will take all of us, working together, to restore responsible, responsive leadership in Congress.

“Congresswoman Bachmann consistently takes the side of special interests on critical issues from holding BP accountable for the oil spill to making sure corporations can’t buy our elections to common sense regulation of Wall Street. Minnesota needs someone in Congress who is on our side, not the special interests.

“On issue after issue, Tarryl Clark has stood up for us. She protected seniors from predatory lenders, took on the insurance industry, and even cut her own compensation and office expenses during the state budget crunch.”

Clark’s website says she’s raised $162,000 from 3,400 people so far in the second quarter.

No word yet on Bachmann’s second-quarter take, but she raised $810,000 in the first quarter, compared with Clark’s $505,000 first-quarter results.