For those bummed about Michele Bachmann not losing...

Don't be.

Yes, she won. We'll have to put up with her blah-blahing about super-secret Muslims in the government and other bizarre plots that exist only in her head for a few more years, probably as long as she wants to keep it up.

Look, instead, to Minnesota's Eighth District.

Democratic Congressman Jim Oberstar held the seat for decades and was defeated in 2010 by an upstart Teabagger, Chip Cravaack, a former Northwest pilot and union steward who is on disability for untreated sleep apnea. He ran on a message of Jim being arrogant, on Jim's sense of entitlement for the seat, and on the impression that Jim had become so unconnected from the area that he didn't even live in the Eighth anymore, he lived in DC or France or both. Cravaack banked on some changing demographics for the district, which represents all of Minnesota's Iron Range as well as Duluth and economically tough but true-blue areas. His win was devastating for the DFL (the Democratic party in Minnesota) and shook many of us.

But.

Cravaack promptly moved his family to New Hampshire and said he spent the workweek in Washington, Saturdays in his district and Sundays with his family -- doing exactly what he ran against Jim for. He pissed off environmentalists with some land-use votes and unions with his fake I'm-one-of-you vibe. The DFL chose Rick Nolan, and old-time DFLer who represented the Sixth (yes, Bachmann's current district) for two terms. Cravaack painted him as a environmentalist freak, a radical from the 70s, a has-been and a big meanie, and none of it stuck. Nolan won by 10 points.

The Fighting Eighth made a mistake in 2010, much of it stemming from lazy GOTV, taking a seat for granted, and a misguided sense of having to cut off your nose to spite your face, as we saw in many districts and local races in 2010. But this decisive victory by Nolan shows that the Eighth is waking up, and realizing that work still needs to be done, and we won't get complacent again.

Bachmann had to spend a lot of money against a capable opponent, and that's money that could have gone to other races. She had to go home and campaign instead of fire up the rank-and-file elsewhere. Don't feel bad for us in Minnesota -- she's the bigoted aunt who sits at the end of the table at Thanksgiving, the one you realize isn't going anywhere and the one you resent your family for inviting year after year, but we all know she's bigoted and bizarre. Instead, we're excited to welcome Rick Nolan to our table, and are excited for the work he'll be doing.