April 4th, 2011 | 
Author: Phyllis Schlafly Backs Michele Bachmann for President : Roll Call …
www.rollcall.com12/5/11
Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative icon who has railed against the feminist movement for decades, has endorsed Rep. Michele Bachmann s presidential campaign.
Bachmann says she's 'perfectly poised' for caucuses | Michele …
www.michelebachmann.com12/9/11
Even though the polls say she's in single digits in Iowa, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said Thursday she's perfectly poised for the Jan. 3 caucuses, and she predicted Iowans are going to come home to …
This is Part 8 of a look at possible GOP candidates that might run well against Obama in 2012.
Part 1 looked at Mitch Daniels Part 2 looked at Tim Pawlenty
Part 3 looked at Chris Christie Part 4 looked at Mitt Ronney
Part 5 looked at Sarah Palin Part 6 looked at Mike Huckabee
Part 7 looked at Rudy Giuliani Part 8 looked at Michele Bachman
Part 9 looked at Donald Trump Part 10 looked at Paul Ryan
Part 11 looked at Ron Paul Part 12 looked at Newt Gingrich
Part 13 looked at Herman Cain Part 14 looked at Rick Santorum
Part 15 looked at Rick Perry Part 16 looked at Jon Huntsman
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) who is considering a run for the GOP nomination, raised a very impressive $2 million plus during the first quarter of the year!
How did she do it?
$1.7 million came from her congressional campaign account, and another $500,000 for her federal political action committee, MichelePAC.
So far, Bachmann’s first quarter number tops the rumored 2012 field, and she just edged out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who raised $1.9 million through his Free and Strong America PAC.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who’s still deciding on another presidential bid, raised just over $1 million for his Liberty PAC.
Her fundraising prowess was already evident during the 2010 cycle, when she raised a staggering $13.5 million for her House race, and this impressive first quarter haul shows Bachmann could be a fundraising force if she opted for a run next year.
But proving it so early in a wide open presidential primary battle is perhaps doubly important.
The fundraising figure comes just as Bachmann has made her presence known in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire and the potential 2012 contender has stepped up her appearances in both early states and is already putting together staff in anticipation of a run.
Should Bachmann move forward, she’d form an exploratory committee by June at the latest.
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Good going girl!
She’s a shining star over the what we presently have in the White House, and her experience is miles ahead.
I do hope dingbat Bachmann is the republican nominee.
I’d just love to see her debate Obama!
Highly unlikely that she would though.
She, like all the other repub candidates, will probably only go on Fox newz.
Bachmann is the real face of the new Teapublicans.
Read Knofman and then your entry. You have no opinion based on facts AT ALL.
At least I have an opinion.
Look, I’ve seen and heard Bachmann and wasn’t impressed, and the truth is that I’m not a great fan of Obama either.
But Obama’s a very good debater and I think he’d cut Bachmann to shreds.
Who do I believe could possibly beat Obama in a one on one?
Well Chris Christie and Marco Rubio would both give Obama a run for his money but right now it doesn’t look like either of them want to be the GOP nominee.
Trump and Obama will be fun!
Two very different styles, and I wonder if Obama would keep his cool.
No one in Bachmann’s camp should be surprised at the kind of attacks that are heading her way!
Much of the media will just scribble her name over “Sarah Palin” on broadsides they have already written.
Forensic gynecologist Andrew Sullivan will soon be demanding DNA samples from the children she claims issued from her loins.
And it’s not just Bachmann’s superficial similarities to Palin that make the attacks so predictable.
It’s that she also represents the views, concerns, and aspirations of normal people!
And liberals hate the views, concerns, and aspirations of normal people.
They require obedience to an agenda designed by superior minds and Bachmann made it clear she aims to misbehave.
I am only now beginning to look and to listen to Michele Bachmann, and what a refreshing breath of fresh air she is!
So it’s not surprising to see the liberal left getting as radically disturbed over her as they are with Sarah Palin.
Run, Michele, run.
Make ‘em squirm ‘n’ learn!
Bachman would have substantial obstacles to overcome, but not insurmountable ones.
She has already made some high-profile gaffes, including declaring late last month that the opening shots of the Revolutionary War took place in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts, and that that raises questions about her preparation for the scrutiny of a national campaign.
Would she get torn to pieces like Palin did on more than one occassion?
Her Congressional office had five chiefs of staff in the last four years and a former chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, Ron Carey, resigned after just five months in the post.
He told reporters in Minneapolis that he would not support her presidential bid, saying, “She’s not going to be an electable candidate for us”.
For many years I was a proud Democrat, but no more!
I used to think my party stood for the “working man and woman”, tolerance and acceptance of all beliefs.
I used to think my party stood for America.
Now however, I think my old party stands for greed, corruption and unconscionable values, and I would now be proud to call either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann Madame President.
The way that Bachman’s talking right can only suggest that she smells blood in the campaign waters!
And Tim Albrecht, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s communications director, said of Bachmann. “Someone who excites the base is to be watched. Someone who has a nationwide fundraising base is to be taken seriously. Someone who has both is a potent force who could be very successful”.
According to Albrecht, “Now that Bachmann has Iowans’ attention, her next task will be to put forward some serious proposals on jobs and the economy during her upcoming visit to the nation’s first voting state”.
But according to local officials, there is indeed excitement in the air for Bachmann.
“She represents a big segment of the people who support us and also the people we need to attract to win”, said Polk County GOP Chairman Kevin McLaughlin, noting that Bachmann had drawn a crowd that included many of the state’s biggest donors during her previous Des Moines appearance in January.
The Polk County GOP has already sold close to 500 tickets for the event, according to finance director Darrell Kearney, and Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds are among the notable Iowa Republicans who are expected to attend.
I think Michelle Bachman can win!
She’s made a few silly mistakes, but she can be coached, and she’s a leading icon among Tea Party enthusiasts.
The paparazzi love her and it doesn’t require much imagination to see how she could very likely win Iowa.
Whilst Palin appears hesitant, Bachman has aggressively jumped into the fray, and while she’s not my personal cup of tea (party), she’d 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 more importantly, she has fire in her belly.
Chair of the House Tea Party caucus and an outspoken champion of the movement, Bachman 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, which came mostly from small donors topped that of 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.
Her upstaging of the GOP’s response to the State of the Union address created consternation within the party, but got twice as much attention as Paul Ryan’s.
And Bachmann would fill the void left by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who decided not to run for president in 2012
She’s a fiscal and social conservative, which is what Iowa Republican primary voters like about her, and if Mike Huckabee and Palin don’t run, then that would leave Rick Santorum as Bachmann’s only real competition among core voters.
When the GOP-led House voted in January to repeal President Obama’s health care law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he wouldn’t even take up the measure in his chamber, and he scorned Republicans for wasting time on “symbolic votes”.
But after Congress struck a last-minute budget deal Friday night to avert a government shutdown, Reid will have to eat his words.
The deal that funds the government through the end of September and cuts $38.5 billion from current spending levels also guarantees a debate and vote in the Senate on legislation that would repeal the president’s signature on the domestic initiative that Republicans scornfully call “Obamacare.”
The deal also requires several studies that will force the Obama administration to disclose the full impact of the law’s mandates, including a study on the cost of premiums; an audit of all the waivers given to businesses and unions that can’t meet the new annual coverage limits; and a report on all of the contractors who have been hired to implement the law and the cost of those contracts to taxpayers.
While the repeal legislation is expected to fail, it will put Senate Democrats in an awkward position because they’ll have to defend a law that polls show is still unpopular, and their votes will come ahead of next year’s presidential election when Republicans will be trying to win control of the upper chamber.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told Fox News Saturday that it’s “good” that the Senate will vote on health care repeal along with defunding Planned Parenthood.
But she added, “We all know that those bills are not going to pass. It is merely to put their vote on the record”.
“For the Democrats, they are not ashamed to vote against ‘Obamacare’ because they all voted for it”, she said, “so I don’t think that is a big win by any stretch of the imagination”.
The big question is, “how will Bachman get women to vote for her?”.
Women don’t like to vote for women and especially Republican women!
There’s an article and thread on this very subject at:
Why do so many women prefer to vote for men?
Bachmann says she is still considering whether to run, but she wowed the crowd at last month’s conservative forum sponsored by influential Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa, who is a big fan.
“I’M ONE OF YOU”.
She reminds Iowans at every opportunity that she was born in the state and spent her early years there, describing herself as a Norwegian Iowan, or “Iowegian.”
“I feel like I know you. I’m one of you”, Bachmann told a crowd at Pella, Iowa, Christian High School on Monday.
She called for the abolition of the tax code and criticized House Republican leaders for making a weak budget deal to avert a government shutdown last week.
“We can’t win if we don’t fight”, she said, vowing to make future budget negotiations even tougher.
“Barack Obama gets no money, zero money, unless we give it to him, so he can be held hostage and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid can be held hostage if we don’t give them money”.
Bachmann is the Tea Party favorite and she appeals to Palinites and could do well in Iowa but it’s hard to see how she could make her way through the rest of the primary thicket.
A strong showing in debates and a respectable finish would increase her national stature for 2016.
But for now, she’s a 20-1 long shot to win the nomination.
The canidate the GOP will choose is Michelle Bachmann, and you will see her take a more centrist tone in the general election.
She is not as out their as Trump or Paul or not as big a lightning rod as Palin but she can stur up the Base and win the primaries, and move more to the center for the general election.
Senior insiders to Michele Bachmann say she’ll now more than likely run for president.
And according to one Bachmann confidant, “In the wake of both Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump opting out of the 2012 race, calls to Bachmann’s offices have been burning up our lines”.
Bachmann has said before that she will likely make a decision by June and on Monday she unveiled a new website design that highlights Team Bachmann rather than Congresswoman Bachmann.
And another insider said that, “In addition to encouragement by phone and email, supporters are also pledging money”.
Most, if not all, of the Republican White House hopefuls will now start vying for support from those who might otherwise have backed Huckabee or Trump.
Asked why she wanted to run for president, Bachmann told Republican activists, “because we need a person who is going to stand up to Obamacare”.
Speaking at a GOP event in New Hampshire Monday, Bachmann made the remark after she was asked why she didn’t try to oust Sen. Al Franken in Minnesota, her home state, rather than try for the White House.
“You’ve got to be willing to take on our party, the other party and then explain it to the people”, she said. “I know I can make the case to the American people and win them over to our side”.
Bachmann has previously said she will make a formal announcement in June, but her response almost eliminates all doubt as to whether she will run or not.
“Obama has to go and has to be replaced, but not just by anyone”, she added. “We need someone who is committed to taking that thing out (the health care law), because it is the crown jewel of socialism, and if it’s allowed to stand we will never get our country back”.
And referring to that document’s reference to “unalienable rights”, Bachmann said:
“That means the government cannot bestow them, and remember, government cannot take them away”.
It was reported that, “woman after woman” in the crowd of more than 100 Republican activists at the picnic said they hoped Bachmann would try to become the first female president.
“It’s time. We are half the population, after all”, said Fran Wendelboe, a former state legislator.
Bachman will bring high energy, and charisma to the Republican race to nominate a challenger to Obama.
She is known for unyielding stances, biting commentary and several high-profile gaffes and while she hasn’t built the broad campaign infrastructure of some GOP rivals, she has gradually patched together a blend of tested and fresh-but-determined advisers.
She’s also shown an ability to raise money from a network of small-dollar donors, including $13.5 million she put toward the nation’s most expensive House race of 2010.
Bachman, 55, spent the bulk of her political career in Minnesota and Washington as a minority party member, reveling in her role as a fierce voice of the opposition.
The camera-friendly congresswoman has irked some party leaders by grabbing at the spotlight, such as the alternate televised response she delivered to Obama’s State of the Union speech this winter.
Her willingness to speak her mind, once accused Obama of running a “gangster government” has brought her both loyal fans and plenty of critics.
A g** rights activist threw glitter at Rep. Michele Bachmann Saturday (June 18, 2011) as the congresswoman was leaving “Right Online:, which was the conservative blogger’s conference taking place in Minneapolis this weekend.
Bachmand kept on walking and waving at the crowd after she wrapped up her speech to the group, and barely flinched as she was doused by the “rainbow” flecks of plastic.
The activist, identified by the Minnesota Star Tribune as Rachel E.B. Lang, later told conservative blogger Ed Frank that she did it to bring light to Bachmann’s support of an anti-g** marriage initiative in the state.
“She can run but she can’t hide from her record of support for anti-g** extremists. So today, I welcome her into the glitter hall of fame”, Lang told the blogger.
Bachmann becomes the third Republican presidential candidate to get the glitter treatment.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also had glitter tossed at them during recent book signings.
Lang called the attack “A really good-natured, light-hearted way to bring attention to an important issue, which is g** rights”.
But taken to task over whether throwing objects, even tiny, and even light-reflective ones, accomplishes anything, Lang said”
“Everyone has to choose their own way to get your message across and as long as you’re not hurting anyone it’s all legitimate”.
Bachmann said “scare tactics” are being used by those warning of an economic calamity unless Congress raises the government’s borrowing limit by an August deadline.
She said the U.S. could avoid a default by paying only the interest on U.S. obligations while lawmakers work on a deal to cut spending dramatically as part of a new debt ceiling.
An Iowa Poll released Saturday night by The Des Moines Register showed her in a statistical tie with Republican rival Mitt Romney among likely caucus-goers.
And in an appearance Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation”, she said she found the poll “gratifying” but noted that the race for the nomination was just beginning.
The poll showed Romney with 23% support and Bachmann with 22% among those who said they were likely to vote in the nation’s first Republican nomination contest.
I find Bachmann’s extremism reprehensible, but you’ve got to give her this:
She’s genuine about it!
She doesn’t favor empty publicity stunts over lawmaking.
Bachmann is a believer in every sense of the word.
She believes what the Bible says, and she believes what she says, including that Glenn Beck can solve the debt crisis.
And even though she’s made it clear that she’s sought God’s counsel in every campaign she’s waged, she also hired legendary strategist Ed Rollins for this one, and that suggests a level of accountability for her views and personal choices that we’ve rarely seen before.
Unlike Sarah Palin, who has spoken of an “emerging conservative feminist identity”, Bachmann says that she wouldn’t call herself a feminist, and instead simply describes herself as “pro-woman and pro-man”, and when pressed on the matter, says that she sees herself as an “empowered American”.
In a joint interview with Bachmann last year, then Sen. Arlen Specter lectured her to “act like a lady”, when she strenuously disagreed with him on a point.
A recent Rolling Stone diatribe by Matt Taibbi called her “completely batshit crazy” with a “retro-Stepford image”, and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews accused her of being “hypnotized” on the air and has also referred to the three-term House member and former tax attorney as a “balloon head”.
Bachan’s reaction:
“The media is what the media is”, she says. “It’s part of the territory. A person has to accept that there are difficult questions and unfair questions and it is a part of this process”.
And over the weekend, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Bachmann if she was a “flake”.
She wasn’t pleased!
“It seemed very insulting, but he did give me a call, and he did offer me an apology”.
Wallace also posted a video apologizing and explaining why he asked the question.
Wallace’s Public Apology