Summary: Suicide attackers struck near a Shiite mosque north of Baghdad and a checkpoint west of the Iraqi capital as bombings killed at least 17 people nationwide. Recent bombings, especially an Aug. 19, 2009 attack on government ministries in Baghdad that killed about 100 people, have shaken people’s confidence at a crucial time, just months before the election. … On the 55th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman featured information from the Star Tribune Voter’s Guide, commentary by Eric Zaetsch of the “Developers are Crabgrass” blog, gave an update on get-out-the-vote campaign efforts, and reported some lighter moments on the campaign trail.

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Summary: Opinion polls show support for President Barack Obama and his policies dipping sharply, though he remains personally more popular than his policies. How will these dynamics impact the 2010 election and what do they tell us about President Obama’s personal qualities and leadership style? … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 54th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, volunteers handed out campaign literature in downtown Forest Lake (Washington County) and at the Old Creamery Arts & Crafts Show in Rice (Benton County), while Immelman had a meet-and-greet at the Saint John’s University football season opener in Collegeville. He also featured information from the WCCO voters guide regarding his campaign platform and issue positions.

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Summary: The Washington Post reports in its Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009 edition that a NATO fact-finding team estimates that about 125 people, many of them civilians, were killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan guided by a lone informant. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 53rd day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on his campaign stops the previous day north of the St. Paul metro in the cities of Wyoming and Forest Lake in Washington County on his way to the final night of the Republican National Convention, where he observed the action outside the convention hall. He also featured information from the St. Paul Pioneer Press voter guide regarding his campaign platform and issue positions.

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Summary: The Associated Press’ publication of a photo of dying Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard has prompted controversy, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and John Bernard, father of Lance Cpl. Bernard, weighing in. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 52nd day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman featured information from the League of Women Voters of Minnesota Voter Guide regarding his campaign platform and issue positions.

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Summary: On the same day that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration’s effort in the eight-year-old Afghanistan war is “only now beginning,” former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) — a potential successor to Secretary Gates — published an op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he cautions, “No country today has the power to impose its will and values on other nations. … Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.” … One year ago today, on the 51st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman released a video statement regarding the serious national security implications of the Iraq war, which Rep. Bachmann failed to address the previous evening in her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

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Summary: In a fiery speech at an Independence Institute fundraiser in Denver that at times sounded more like the plot of a slasher movie, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann railed against the dangers of health care reform and other Democratic initiatives, warning the proposals “have the strength to destroy this country forever” and calling on her audience to “make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 50th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reminded voters that there was just one week left until the Tuesday, September 9, 2008 Minnesota state primary election, offering disaffected Republicans, independents, and Democrats an opportunity to vote Rep. Bachmann out of office.

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Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … With 52 U.S. troops killed, August 2009 became the deadliest month of the deadliest year yet in the Afghanistan war. … The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan has called for a new strategy against the Taliban in an assessment of the 8-year-old conflict ordered by the U.S. Secretary of Defense. … The number of civilians killed in Iraq shot up to 393 in August 2009, the highest level since April, after a spate of mass-casualty bombings caused carnage in Baghdad and northern Iraq. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 49th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman visited the St. Stephen Parish Festival with his four children. Afterwards, he made a detour through Rice on the way home to Sartell, for an update on shoreline restoration and water quality issues on Little Rock Lake in Benton County. He also posted updates on Hurricane Gustav, which made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Cocodrie, La.

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Summary: Bill Prendergast debunks U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s false claim that she had no interest in running for political office prior to being “called by God” to run for the Minnesota State Senate in 2000. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 48th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took his family to the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul.

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Summary: Bombs struck Baghdad and remote communities in northern Iraq on August 29, 2009 as the visiting Iranian foreign minister warned that Iraq’s instability affected the whole region. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 47th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his campaign focus on national security issues, issued his statement opposing the war in Iraq.

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Summary: Kandahar, Afghanistan shows signs of slipping back under Taliban control as August 2009 becomes the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. troops in Afghanistan — a setback for President Barack Obama’s war strategy. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 46th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his campaign focus on national security issues, addressed links between the Iraqi government and Iran and the role of the Iraq war in empowering Iran.

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