Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has signed a seasoned Republican strategist, Ed Rollins, to run her presidential campaign, which she is expected to officially launch in Iowa this month. Rollins, who ran Mike Huckabee's 2008 campaign, and Ronald Reagan's impressive 1984 re-election effort, brings experience and a reputation for hardball politics to a Bachmann campaign that already includes several veteran advisers. Will this give Bachmann an advantage over the rest of the GOP candidates?
This is huge for Bachmann: "This is big and significant news," says Erick Erickson at RedState. Rollins was the architect of Reagan's 49-state landslide victory, and he's the guy who "took Mike Huckabee’s 2008 upstart campaign into overdrive and gave Romney, McCain, and the rest a run for their money." Rollins might just "turn Michele Bachmann into a serious contender for evangelicals, and transition her from just being seen as a tea party candidate."
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Move over, Sarah Palin: If nothing else, this serves as "confirmation that Michele Bachmann is serious about running for president," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. Sarah Palin, who appeals to a similar part of the GOP base, gets so much attention that "Michele Bachmann has been slipping under the radar." But with her latest big hire, "it looks like she's about to make a very big splash."
"Michele Bachmann hires former Reagan advisor Ed Rollins to run campaign"
Sure, this is big... for Romney: "Bachmann's political gifts plus the experience of old pros like Rollins give her a potentially formidable candidacy," says Mark Halperin at TIME. That's bad news for every GOP candidate but Mitt Romney. Party insiders fear that an upstart, unelectable Republican might capture the nomination, and "a strong Bachmann will push the establishment faster into the arms of the frontrunner."