While the 2010 election may still be well over a year away, Sixth District House of Representatives DFL runner Maureen Reed has hit the ground running while raising a little over $200,000 this last summer campaigning for Minnesota’s sixth congressional district. Reed, a native Minnesotan and graduate of University of Minnesota’s medical school, is an unknown in the political world but has been notably active in the Health Care field. Reed was inspired to run for office when President Obama opted to put Health Care reform at the front of the national agenda. Currently, very few members of Congress have experience in the field and Reed believes in order to provide real reform for Americans, experts like herself need to draft legislation. After being defeated in the 2006 lieutenant governor race she participated in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Health Care Transformation Task Force. She is also a member of the Medical Reserve Corps and lent a hand in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2007 35W bridge collapse. The Reed campaign has directed much of its attention towards health reform and believes the issues within our healthcare system are causing myriad problems for our society. The campaign states, “Health care affects education as it begins to swallow up more of the budget for schools and universities. It affects jobs because so many people’s insurance is tied to their employment.” The skyrocketing costs of health care has made it difficult for small businesses to expand and buried average citizens in unprecedented debt. Reed believes once we succeed in reducing costs by resorting a more prevention-based approach, money can be redirected back to areas that need it the most.

Reed’s Republican opponent, House incumbent Michelle Bachmann, has shocked and stunned audiences over the years and came under the national spotlight last October when she accused then-senator Barack Obama and other, unnamed government officials of holding anti-American views in an interview on MSNBC’s Hardball. While Bachmann has repeatedly been labeled outlandish for her behavior by both sides of the political spectrum, she’s proven to be a formidable opponent in the realm of state politics. The 6th District includes Anoka and Benton county, covering the St. Cloud area and ending at the Wisconsin border with Washington County. Considering the overwhelmingly conservative mentality of the district, Reed’s stance on abortion may also be a barrier to success. In a recent interview with MinnPost, Reed stated although she does not seek to overturn Roe v. Wade she does not label herself as pro-choice but rather “pro-health and pro-prevention.” Michelle Bachmann has outwardly spoken against abortion rights and repeatedly voted against expanding embryonic stem cell research.

The Reed campaign will have to take a unique approach to ensure success where other Democratic leaders have fallen short. In 2006, after claiming she was summoned by God to run for office, Bachmann defeated DFL Patty Wetterling for the house seat. The 2008 election, however, she proved to be more vulnerable but still triumphed, defeating Elwyn Tinklenberg by a 3 percent difference. Campaign Manager Jason Isaacson says, “We cannot run another DFL campaign that relies on calling Michelle Bachmann crazy” and that “Reed is the right candidate at the right time in the district.” In addition to her aforementioned experience in the medical field, Reed has experience in running businesses, was the chair of the Board of Regents here at the U of M and a practicing physician working with under or uninsured patients for over a decade.

Tags: politics