The congresswoman isn't always in, her critics say

Staff for Rep. Michele Bachmann had set up video equipment for six Muslim constituents who had come to her district office for a meeting. The plan was for them to have a teleconference with the congresswoman, who was in Washington.

But Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, did not turn up, said Ikram Ul Huq, the Republican activist who organized the 2009 meeting. It was the second time the group had been stood up by Bachmann, whose office blamed a scheduling conflict. Huq said Bachmann offered no apology and did not attempt to reschedule.

“We wanted to talk about jobs and the local issues that matter to us. She simply dodged the thing,” recalled Huq, who has set up similar meetings with other Republican lawmakers.

In her nearly five years in Congress, Bachmann has connected deeply with tea party activists and social conservatives, but some constituents outside those circles say that she is distant and unresponsive and that, at times, she has snubbed them outright.

Bachmann is trying to extend the reach of her campaign, meeting with a wider array of groups as well as with mainstream fundraisers. But that effort appears to be a departure for Bachmann, whose political career has not relied on appealing to a broad spectrum of voters.

A polarizing figure nationally and in her party, Bachmann has a similar profile in her Minnesota district. Dozens of interviews yielded a picture of a passionate champion of the dedicated right: home-schooling parents, anti-tax suburbanites, Christian-values voters and like-minded people who feel ignored by their government officials.

But others in the state's 6th Congressional District, including some Republicans, say she has shown little interest in engaging with their concerns.

“With Michele, I feel totally ignored,” said Sue Hedin, a librarian who says she is a Democratic-leaning independent. “With no other representative have I felt quite that way.”

Bachmann's supporters contend she has worked with a variety of constituents in leading bipartisan efforts. They cite her efforts to repeal controversial education standards as a state senator and her strong support as a congresswoman of a bridge connecting her hometown with Wisconsin.

But the experiences of the Muslim constituents are not isolated. Former aides who have grown disenchanted with Bachmann say she is inundated with requests for her time and bends over backward for constituent groups that come by her office. But one of their chief complaints was she would skip meetings without warning, leaving them to explain her absence.

“If you could further her causes, she would make time for you,” said one former senior aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “If she didn't see any real benefit to her, you wouldn't be on her schedule.”