By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the fantastic own-goal committed on Hardball Friday night by Minnesota’s very own answer to Katherine Harris, Michele Bachmann.  Bachmann, who apparently also studies the behavior of fellow Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt for clues on deportment, not only approved of the robocall lies of the McCain campaign, but actually doubled down on them, and smirkingly tossed in an "anti-American" smear accusation as well, much to the consternation of Hardball host Chris Matthews.  "Shameless" doesn’t begin to describe her.

No sooner had her Hardball segment finished than the video of said segment went viral on the internet.  And not in a good way for her.   Thousands of outraged Americans from coast to coast, horrified that such a dingbat could actually be allowed to hold a congressional seat, started Googling frantically with one thought in mind:  "Who is her Democratic opponent, and how can I donate money to that opponent’s campaign?"

Her opponent is Elwyn Tinklenberg — yeah, I know, it’s a funny name.  But he’s a good guy, and sane.   Her CD has been gerrymandered to make electing Republicans almost automatic — lots of megachurches and exurban white-flighters — but even so, he’s within four points of her right now in the latest poll, and that poll has a 4.9% margin of error.  Furthermore, that poll was finished a good five days before her disastrous Hardball appearance.

How disastrous was it?  Well, as of 10:43 pm Eastern Time on Friday, her opponent Tinklenberg’s ActBlue page — which was set up only three days before — showed a measly $2,500 raised via that page for him.  As of 12:41 pm Eastern the next day — thirteen hours later — he had $133,147 in ActBlue donations, with hundreds of dollars rolling in each passing minute.  This on a sleepy Saturday, no less.

Thanks, Michele!