Redistricting will carve up Michele Bachmann's House district

The House district of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) must shed close to 100,000 voters ahead of 2012, the single biggest change that any of the state's eight Congressional districts will see in this year's redistricting process.  

Minnesota will remain at eight House districts, but detailed Census data for the state just released show that the districts of Bachmann and Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) must shed substantial numbers of voters. 

It's the scenario that political observers in the state expected from the start given the population estimates, but the release of the detailed data officially sets off a redistricting battle that could mean fewer Republican voters in Bachmann's district and stands to shift her 2010 opponent into a neighboring district.    

State Sen. Tarryl Clark (D), who raised an impressive sum of money in a failed effort to oust Bachmann in 2010, could end up in the district of freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) next year depending on how the new map is drawn.  

Cravaack pulled off one of last year's most surprising House upsets in defeating longtime Rep. Jim Oberstar (D) and Clark could make for a tough opponent in 2012 if her hometown ends up in Cravaack's district.  

For Bachmann, who is considering a run for president next year, redistricting isn't likely to change her calculation all that much, but insiders predict there could be a push to strengthen Cravaack's hand ahead of 2012 by shifting some of Bachmann's GOP territory to his district. 

Another district to watch is that of Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), who won his 2010 race by a slim margin. One possible scenario is that some of Kline's Republican heavy territory could end up in Walz's district, offering the GOP an even better pick up opportunity in 2012.