How Michele Bachmann Can Win

[onehandle]

NEW YORK – The Minnesota firebrand could parlay her Tea Party support, fundraising skills, and message discipline into a serious run for the White House. She has the fire in the belly, Mark McKinnon writes. Though prone to gaffes and non-answer answers, she is a formidable fundraiser, an icon among Tea Party enthusiasts, draws cameras like flies, and her detractors are legion. And it's looking more and more likely she will run for president. Also, it's not a stretch to see how she could very likely win Iowa and we know what happens after that.

No, not Sarah Palin. Get ready for a conservative firebrand from Minnesota who may make memories of Palin pale quickly. We are talking about Rep. Michele Bachmann who, while Palin hesitates, has aggressively jumped into the fray. And while she's not my cup of tea (party), Bachmann would arguably be a stronger GOP candidate for president than Palin in 2012. She works harder, she's smarter, she has more discipline, more focus and, perhaps most important, she has fire in her belly.

Chair of the House Tea Party caucus and an outspoken champion of the movement, Bachmann raised more campaign cash in the 2010 congressional midterm elections than any other candidate. And her $2.2 million haul in the first quarter of 2011, mostly from small donors and before she has officially entered the race, tops former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Her “positive intensity” among Republicans and right-leaning independents, as measured by Gallup, is higher than Palin’s, even though her name recognition is far lower. Though political pundits pounce on her every misspeak and mangled factoid, while being far more forgiving of the president’s mispronunciations, and historical inaccuracies, she electrifies crowds and displays unnerving message discipline.

Her upstaging of the GOP’s response to the State of the Union address created consternation within the party, but got at least twice the attention and coverage as did Paul Ryan, who delivered the party’s formal response. Ninety percent of politics is showing up. And Bachmann is showing up in Iowa. And she's creating a lot of excitement among the conservative faithful. And Bachmann would fill the void left by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who decided not to run for president in 2012: She is both a fiscal and social conservative, which is what Iowa Republican primary voters like. If Mike Huckabee doesn't run, and Palin doesn't run, that leaves Rick Santorum as Bachmann's only real competition among these core voters. And he lost his last election by 16 points.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/13386_howmichelebachmanncouldwinthepresidency

[cali]

1. maybe- just maybe- the nomination. the White House? No.

[lutefisk]

2. I don't know any more. After what's happened over the past two months in WI, FL, MI, OH...

The far right is making some very aggressive moves, and it's possible that the 2012 election might make Florida 2000 and the Bush selection look like the good old days of legitimate Democratic elections. These people are ruthless criminals.

[Turbineguy]

3. She does seem to be eclipsing Palin

as the natural heir to Dim Son. The self destructive lizard brains love her.

[FSogol]

4. Laughable. Had to check if it was The Onion. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

5. Or, she could put something in the water supply that lowered people's IQ by 95%

that would work.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. She really impressed them in New Hampshire

with her gaffes about Lexington and Concord.

She's going nowhere.

[Frustratedlady]

7. I've lived in Iowa all my life and I can't believe anyone would vote for her.

She might turn some people on, but I can't see her going very far.

[Life Long Liberal]

8. Can you imagine Obama debating her? It will be funny. n-t

[Renew Deal]

9. That would be loads of fun.

I hope she runs.

[Siouxmealso]

10. For a taste of Bachmann's message

and how she sells it, take a look at this YouTube video. She's no Palin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thR-lVuztIY

I think this clip is very representative of this woman's passion for defeating Obama.

[sadbear]

11. Not the Onion? This is real?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[FormerDittoHead]

12. Michelle Bachmann and KATHERINE HARRIS! THAT'S THE TICKET!

For a while there I was confusing the two for that "batshit crazy" thing they each have going on.

Sure Harris overreached with her bid for Senate, but it's not like Palin's in office anywhere either!

You GO girls!

[spanone]

13. are the out of their fucking minds? 'a serious run for the white house'

yep, let's champion ignorance

[Blue Owl]

14. oh god

:hangover:

[warren pease]

15. "...Bachmann would ... be a stronger GOP candidate ... than Palin in 2012...

...She works harder, she's smarter..."

Yeah, she's smarter, all right. Comparing these two intellectual giants would be like pitting a box of rocks against a bag of doorknobs.

Unfortunately, there are no instruments capable of measuring the depth of bottomless pits.


wp

[Hugabear]

16. To anybody who says she doesn't have a chance, consider Florida's Rick Scott

This time a year ago, I don't think anybody in this state would have given him a serious chance of even winning the GOP nomination, let alone winning the general election. He was a relative unknown at the time, and had just been forced to resign as CEO from his healthcare company because of massive fraud. Not to mention the fact that he was facing Bill McCollum in the GOP primary, a very staunch conservative with deep GOP ties.

However, Scott was able to rally the Tea Party base around him, pour gobs of his own money into his campaign, and the rest is history.