After weeks of ascending in the 2012 presidential polls, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) finally took the lead in a new survey of Iowa likely caucus goers, besting Mitt Romney 25 percent to 21 percent. The last major poll from Iowa had her trailing Romney by 1 percentage point. This new poll, from The Iowa Republican, finds other signs of Bachmann momentum, too: Her net favorability ratings are now 24 points higher than Romney's and 17 points higher than distant No. 3 finisher Tim Pawlenty's. Does this make the Tea Party star the new frontrunner for the GOP nomination?
This is just a Bachmann bubble: This poll already feels a little dated, says Doug Mataconis in Outside the Beltway. Notably, it doesn't reflect Tim Pawlenty's recent attacks on Bachmann's "lack of anything resembling an accomplishment in her political career." Since that attack "is largely true," it may well hasten Bachmann's "inevitable fall from grace." Bottom line: The Tea Partier is "peaking too early."
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