Tea-party advocate U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was declared the winner by the Associated Press with 98 percent of precincts reporting. She led Democratic Farm Labor Party millionaire Jim Graves, by just over 3,000 votes out of nearly 350,000 votes cast in her fight for Minnesota's 6th Congressional District seat Tuesday night.
Bachmann, typically comfortable in her seat, had a definite advantage in money raising, accumulating a reported $23 million for the race, and she had a distinct advantage in name recognition.
But Bill Clinton appeared at a rally for Graves just days before the election.
Bachmann ran for the Republican Party nomination for president, and some critics seem to hold that against her.
Graves pounced on her for her brief candidacy, claiming she wasn't working for Minnesota during her run for the White House.
Bachmann, an outspoken critic of Obamacare, made the health care behemoth a major campaign issue in the weeks leading up to Election Day. She also was an outspoken critic of the stimulus package to bail out Wall Street and a vocal critic of the president's waffling on the 2011 debt ceiling.
Graves, a millionaire hotel owner, cast himself as a fiscally conservative Democrat. His ads attacked Bachmann for not passing more laws while serving Minnesota in Congress.
He also blasted Bachmann over her recent questions about Muslim Brotherhood influence in the State Department.