Minnesota Nice? Pawlenty & Bachmann Fire Up Debate Stage With Intense Exchange

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Politico:

It's open war between the Minnesota twins.

Home-state rivals Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann are already going straight at each other, less than 20 minutes into the debate. Fox's Chris Wallace touched off the blowup, listing a series of issues Pawlenty has raised about Bachmann — her migraines, her scant record of accomplishment in DC — and asking: “Is she unqualified or is she just beating you in the polls?”

Pawlenty first pushed back on the idea that he'd questioned Bachmann's health, saying: “I have not questioned Congresswoman Bachmann’s migraine headaches … The only headache I hear abou ton the campaign trail is the headache” Obama’s given the country.

“She’s done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things," Pawlenty said, then dropping the hammer: "It's an undisputable fact that her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent."

Offered the opportunity to respond, Bachmann unloaded on Pawlenty's record as governor: “When you were governor in Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate … You said the era of small government is over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me.”

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