The paper deals with the construction of a political persona. The focus rests on the interaction between private and public/popular spheres, as it relates to the journalistic coverage of Swedish feminist politician Tiina Rosenberg and the political association Feminist Initiative (Fi). A consistent leitmotif in the media discourse is the portrayal of Tiina Rosenberg as deviant, and the equation of feminism and radicalism with extremism. On a more general level Tiina Rosenberg appears to have a condensing function that extends beyond the rational political culture, where the media construction of "Fi-Tiina" clearly has the character of symbolic excess. Here, one key factor is the abscence of political self-styling. To present one self, as Tiina Rosenberg did, to the public without a strategic political self, left the field open for other actors to construct her in any way they wanted. Instead of representing a new political project, she became a focus for projections of potent emotional reactions in defense of traditional norms.