The Week: Most Recent 2012 Elections:The Bachmann Campaign

Could Michele Bachmann lose her House race?

The Week — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:00:00 -0400

"Despite her national fan base and a massive war chest, Rep. Michele Bachmann may be in more danger than most suspect," says Alex Seitz-Wald at Salon. The Minnesota Republican and former presidential candidate has easily held her state's conservative 6th congressional district since winning the seat in 2006, but a new poll from Democratic opponent Jim Graves has the candidates statistically tied, with Bachmann leading by a slim 48 percent to 46 percent. The momentum seems to be in Graves' favor, with his support jumping three points from a June poll, independents swinging heavily in his direction...

What's next for Michele Bachmann: 4 predictions

The Week — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:58:00 -0500

Now that Michele Bachmann has dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, speculation is rampant about what the Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party standard-bearer will do next. "Make no mistake: I'm going to continue to be a strong voice," Bachmann said after finishing last in the Iowa caucuses. "I'll continue to fight." The question is, where will Bachmann's next battleground be? Here, four theories:

1. First, she'll decide whether to stay in Congress
The odds are at least "50-50 that she runs for the House again," says Devin Henry at MinnPost. And while Bachmann...

Michele Bachmann quits: What killed her campaign?

The Week — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:45:00 -0500

It looks like we won't have Michele Bachmann to kick around anymore. The tea-partying congresswoman from Minnesota announced on Wednesday that she would suspend her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, following a disappointing sixth-place finish in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses. Just last August, Bachmann was a real contender, sweeping the much-watched Ames straw poll with 4,823 of the 16,892 votes cast. Compare that to Tuesday's caucuses, in which Bachmann eked out only 6,073 of the state's 122,255 votes. Why did her campaign implode? Here, six factors:

1. She was overtaken by other...

Will Iowa end Michele Bachmann's campaign?

The Week — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Once considered the candidate to beat in the Iowa caucuses, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) now places last in the polls going into the state's Tuesday kickoff of the 2012 primary season. Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and a surging Rick Santorum are way ahead of Bachmann, and she's fallen behind Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, too. Still, Bachmann says she expects to "see a miracle." And no matter what happens, she has vowed to compete in upcoming contests in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and beyond. But if the Minnesota congresswoman fails to do well in the state where she was born, will it be time...

Will Margaret Thatcher comparisons help Bachmann in Iowa?

The Week — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:04:00 -0500

The video: In a last-ditch effort to salvage her showing in Iowa, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has been comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher, Britain's formidably conservative former prime minister and the subject of The Iron Lady, a current biopic starring Meryl Streep. A new TV ad calls Bachmann "America's Iron Lady" with a "Titanium Spine" and features a picture of Thatcher inset in a shot of the Minnesota congresswoman. The 30-second spot, set to run 14 times over the next two days on a local NBC station in Iowa, is Bachmann's first TV commercial in the state since she won the straw...

Jimmy Fallon's 'sexist' mockery of Michele Bachmann

The Week — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:42:00 -0500

The video: Fishbone's 1985 ska tune "Lyin' Ass Bitch" is almost certainly not Rep. Michele Bachmann's favorite song. Nonetheless, as the GOP presidential candidate took the stage on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Monday night, the show's house band, The Roots, greeted her with the first bars of that salty number, minus the trademark lyric "You're nothing but a little lyin' ass bitch." (Listen to both The Roots and Fishbone's versions below.) Before the show, Roots' drummer Questlove tweeted: "aight late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask...

Michele Bachmann's 'revealing' book: 9 highlights

The Week — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:40:00 -0500

Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) first book, Core of Conviction: My Story, was released Monday, and it's "largely a 206-page version of her stump speech" for the GOP presidential nomination, says Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times. The book recounts Bachmann's childhood, parents' divorce, spiritual awakening, marriage, child-rearing, early career, and, in the final chapter, her run for president. But among the well-worn talking points, says Minnesota Public Radio's Catharine Richert, are some "revealing tidbits" and dishy political nuggets. Book-promotion tours have worked wonders for rivals...

Why Michele Bachmann's campaign is crashing: 4 theories

The Week — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:01:00 -0400

Rep. Michele Bachmann's August victory in the Ames Straw Poll was supposed to propel her campaign forward, but she's only slumping deeper in the polls. In a new Gallup/USA Today national poll, only 5 percent of Republicans listed her as their first choice, down from 10 percent in August. Bachmann was once hailed as a top-tier candidate for the GOP nomination. What went wrong? Here are four theories:

1. Perry stole her thunder
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has eclipsed Bachmann as the conservative's conservative, says Pete Spiliakos at First Things. She was top tier until he entered...

Michele Bachmann: 'Anti-vaccine wingnut'?

The Week — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:40:00 -0400

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) earned glowing reviews for her performance in Monday's CNN/Tea Party presidential debate. Her perceived finest moment: Hammering Texas Gov. Rick Perry over his (quickly overruled) 2007 executive order mandating that "innocent little 12-year-old girls" in Texas get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted infection HPV. Bachmann didn't fare as well, however, in her post-debate media blitz, ill-advisedly repeating the cautionary tale of a mother who claimed her daughter "suffered from mental retardation" because of the HPV vaccine. Has Bachmann "jumped the shark...

How Michele Bachmann can rescue her sputtering candidacy

The Week — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:34:00 -0400

Only one thing stands between Rep. Michele Bachmann and a game-changing win in the Iowa caucuses, says Jennifer Jacobs in The Des Moines Register, "and his name is Rick Perry." A month ago, Bachmann was flying high. She was the preferred candidate of social conservatives wary of Mitt Romney — sweeping to victory in Iowa's Ames Straw Poll, forcing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty out of the race, and hovering near the top of other GOP presidential polls. But now, Texas Gov. Perry is dominating so much of the "Tea Party/social conservative space" that Bachmann is losing altitude quickly in Iowa...

Michele Bachmann's jobs speech rebuttal: 'Odd' or 'powerful'?

The Week — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:48:00 -0400

The video: Because of a travel delay, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann missed most of President Obama's "feisty" jobs speech Thursday night, in which he laid out a $447 billion plan to boost the economy. But the Minnesota congresswoman's late arrival didn't stop her from offering her promised rebuttal to his remarks. Rejecting Obama's plan, Bachmann proposed that we "massively cut" government and repeal "job killing regulations." (Watch a video below.) She accused Obama of offering no new ideas, and branded him "politically paralyzed." The rebuttal was staged despite Speaker John...

'Confused' donors think Michele Bachmann is Jewish: The wisecracks

The Week — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:58:00 -0400

Mitt Romney has a Jewish problem, according to the New York Post. Romney fundraisers tell the Post that some Jewish donors are politely turning them down, saying they'd rather give their money to rival presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, whom they mistakenly perceive as the "Jewish candidate." It's a curious claim: The conservative Minnesotan is a Lutheran who touts her strong Christian faith as a selling point to GOP voters. Nevertheless, the mix-up is apparently so pervasive that some in the Romney camp "have been wondering whether Bachmann and her allies are pushing the 'Jewish' rumor to...

Bachmann says Irene is God's judgment on Congress: Seriously?

The Week — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:52:00 -0400

The video: Add Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann to the list of public figures who see natural disasters as a sign that American politics upset God. Following in the footsteps of Texas pastor John Hagee (who claimed that God sicked Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans to protest its gay pride parade) and televangelist Pat Robertson (who linked Katrina to the abortion debate), Bachmann suggested Sunday that God unleashed natural disasters on the East Coast to spook Congress into cutting spending. Speaking in Florida, she said: "I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention...

Has Michele Bachmann's campaign already peaked?

The Week — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:37:00 -0400

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) had a good summer, moving from second-tier Republican presidential candidate to viable frontrunner and winner of the much-watched Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. But according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP), Bachmann is stuck in third place in must-win Iowa, behind new frontrunner Rick Perry (22 percent) and Mitt Romney (19 percent). Bachmann, who polled at 18 percent, also saw the number of Iowans who view her unfavorably skyrocket — from 16 percent in June to 35 percent now. "The day of her win in Ames may be remembered as the peak of her campaign...

Michele Bachmann's 'impressive' momentum

The Week — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:08:00 -0400

To capitalize on her victory in Saturday's Iowa straw poll, Michele Bachmann took a "victory lap" around the Sunday political talk-show circuit. Though the mock Iowa election has no official significance — it's not even always a good indication of which candidate will win the February Iowa caucuses, which kick off the presidential primary season — Bachmann said her performance proved that she's the Republican best qualified to beat President Obama in 2012. How much will Iowa boost her chances of winning the GOP nomination?

This cements Bachmann as a frontrunner: Michele Bachmann's big...

The New Yorker's 'terrific' Michele Bachmann profile: 6 takeaways

The Week — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:51:00 -0400

Profiles of Michele Bachmann have been plentiful since the congresswoman became a legitimate contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And now, in the latest issue of The New Yorker, Ryan Lizza delivers a "terrific" and "disturbing" look at Bachmann's worldview, intellectual influences, and life history. Granted unprecedented access to Bachmann and her campaign, Lizza explores the roots of Bachmann's beliefs. Here, six of The New Yorker's best revelations:

1. Bachmann's beliefs were shaped by an evangelical filmmaker
Bachmann calls the film series How Should We Then Live...