Can Bachmann Survive Much Longer?

For readers it's pretty obvious that I not only believe that Michele Bachmann is religious extremists/bigot but also a menace to the nation. Happily, see seems to be headed towards a crash landing as her polling numbers plummet and it becomes more and more obvious to all but her most dedicated Kool-Aid drinkers that the woman is far outside of her depth. Frankly, I'd argue that being dog catcher or county solid waste director is out of Bachmann's depth. While crazies still seem to predominate in the GOP presidential race circus, it is nonetheless heartening to see Bachmann apparently headed towards oblivion. The fact that she ever received more than 1% in polling is a testament to just how far the Republican Party has fallen under the irrational influences of the Christian Right and the Tea Party. It's as if certified mental illness or a lobotomy are prerequisites to being a member of the GOP base. A piece in The Daily Beast looks at Bachmann's decline and speculates whether she will totally crash and burn before the Iowa caucuses, Here are some highlights:

Michele Bachmann’s top advisers are fleeing, her crowds are thinning, her poll numbers are dropping and her money is tight. What’s more, the off-the-cuff style that catapulted the Minnesota Republican to the front of the 2012 GOP presidential race has backfired recently.

The performance has left some political veterans both inside and outside her campaign to wonder whether the Tea Party favorite with the telegenic smile and the quick one-liners will hang in there until January’s Iowa caucuses—which she has made the linchpin of her all-or-nothing Iowa strategy.

“She has likely seen her best days in this race,” said Steve Schmidt, the GOP political strategist who ran John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “There is not a scenario at this point whereby she can get nomination of the party.

The Minnesota congresswoman has historically raised money through direct mail and online contributions—an impressive $13 million for her last congressional campaign—but those avenues will not support a costly presidential race. . . . Officially, Bachmann’s campaign declined to address the fund-raising concerns, saying only that it has “the necessary resources to continue executing our strategy.”


Bachmann’s woes began the very day of the Ames Straw poll, when Perry’s entered the race and began sucking away conservative support. She never got the momentum back, even after winning the poll or from fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty’s withdrawal from the race. She has struggled since to be heard in the past few months, and her national poll numbers have dropped, along with her standing in Iowa.


Campaign veterans say Bachmann’s future ine the race will likely depend on how comfortable she is with a bare-bones operation. In the end, all she really needs is money for gas to drive around Iowa. “If she runs a lean and mean operations focused solely on Iowa, she can probably stick around to see if lightning strikes again,” said GOP political analyst Todd Harris.

Let's hope lightning does strike and that it knocks Bachmann totally out of the race and sets her up eventually for a defeat in her congressional re-election efforts. The woman needs to disappear from the national political scene.