Free Republic

When Michele Bachmann announced her candidacy for the presidency of the United States, she skyrocketed to the top of the Republican pack as the conservative specially anointed to be the anti-Romney candidate. Since then, other candidates emerged, rose, fell, and dropped out. However, despite all these tumultuous political changes, Michele Bachmann has steadfastly remained as the true consistent conservative -- one who can intellectually take the fight to Obama and represent the right in both rhetoric and record. It is important to note that Bachmann has a life story with which Americans can identify. Unlike the pampered patrician Mitt Romney,...

Ed Rollins, former campaign manager and current "informal adviser" to Rep. Michele Bachmann, told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell moments ago that Bachmann doesn't have the "ability or the resources" to go beyond Iowa. Rollins stopped working for the campaign day-to-day earlier this month in a staff shakeup, and criticized her comments on the HPV vaccine last week. Rollins said Texas Gov. Rick Perry's entrance into the race undercut her campaign, and that she was unprepared for the national stage running as a congresswoman.

In his latest Time column, Republican super-strategist Mike Murphy outlines why the Michele Bachmann surge may be short-lived, and why it helps Mitt Romney for the time being: Finally, the billion-volt electron microscopes of the national media will soon be trained on Bachmann now that she’s the official Iowa front runner. I’ll bet dollars to Minnesota lutefisk that despite her new squad of professional handlers, we are in for more of Bachmann’s factual fumbles. Her latest mix-up, confusing the birthplace of beloved American icon John Wayne with that of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, hints that Michele’s next moves on...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an outspoken Republican with close ties to the tea party, announced Monday that she is running for president, a candidacy that could further shake up a volatile fight for the GOP nomination. The first female contender to enter the 2012 race, Bachmann announced her bid during a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire.

Earlier this week, what could be the first shots were fired in a potential rivalry between potential Republican presidential hopefuls Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. On Tuesday, Bachmann campaign manager Ed Rollins said Palin wasn’t a “serious” candidate for president and that upset many Palin supporters, who also tend to support Bachmann. In an appearance on Thursday’s syndicated “Hugh Hewitt Show,” columnist Mark Steyn asked the question – what is Bachmann doing with Rollins on her team in the first place? “Well you know, let me say it as bluntly as I can because I...

The squabble between Sarah Palin’s peeps and those of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is quite entertaining. Not that we didn’t see this coming. Months ago, Bachmann bumped Palin as Tea Party queen. But now that Bachmann is this close to jumping into the race for the Republican nomination for president — and Palin is pretending to think about doing same but we all know she won’t — the gloves are coming off in earnest. Jennifer Rubin raises some good points about the wisdom of Bachmann hiring Ed Rollins. “She’s fresh; he’s not,” Rubin writes. “She’s anti-Beltway; he personifies it. She’s...

His hire was also her first real campaign decision. If you’re not up to speed on the story, here’s what’s going on. Rep. Bachmann hired veteran Republican campaign strategist Ed Rollins to manage her campaign. Campaign managers have to carry a few qualities, among them toughness, a bit of ruthlessness, communications and fundraising savvy (and there are many qualities packed into those two qualities), and a certain ability to provide useful leadership and simultaneously blend into the background. That last is because, while they manage the campaign, the campaign isn’t about them. It’s about the candidate. But Ed Rollins tends...

Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins' response to the sharp criticisms from Sarah Palin's world just now was to "let it go." But he didn't go quietly, telling me, "I haven't lived in Washington D.C. in 15 years, and I've been taken to the woodshed by the big boys." "As far as we're concerned, it's not" an ongoing fight, he insisted. "This was my one comment, which I shouldn't have made, at the end of the day this has nothing to do with Michele, Michele's campaign, or any of the rest of it. This was my transition from being an analyst...

This is a follow-up to my post yesterday, Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins, regarding Rollins out-of-the-gate attacks on Sarah Palin: Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated..  (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the...

[snip beginning of article] ... Ed Rollins, dismissed Palin as “not serious” in a radio interview. He suggested in an interview with POLITICO that Bachmann would profit from the contrast. Bachmann will “be so much more substantive,” Rollins said. “People are going to say, ‘I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who’s every bit as attractive.’” “I’m not afraid of Palin,” he said, adding the strategy would have been the same for Mike Huckabee. Bachmann has been laying the groundwork for this argument for months, stepping away from some of the more dramatic rhetoric that brought...

Bachmann vs. Palin feud hits Twitter By Matt Lewis A few weeks ago, I pointed out that a prominent Sarah Palin blogger had turned on Michele Bachmann. On Fox News Sunday this week, Palin pointed out that she, unlike Bachmann, had executive experience (though added that Bachmann had strengths, too). The feud was taken to a new level, however, when Bachmann’s new “celebrity” campaign manager, Ed Rollins referred to Palin as “not serious.” This was too much for Palin supporter and talk radio host, Tammy Bruce who took to her Twitter feed. Bruce, who also appears in the new film...

Not surprisingly, Bachmann has come under the same types of snide attack as Sarah Palin from the mainstream media, entertainment industry and left-blogosphere.  There is a special place reserved for conservative women in the Democratic toolkit of mockery and derision. But Bachmann just made a big mistake.  I'll repeat what I wrote when Mike Huckabee was considering whether to run again with Ed Rollins as his campaign manager: Run, don't walk, away from Ed Rollins and the others who think that demeaning Sarah Palin is the best way to advance your campaign.Sure enough, Rollins having just been hired by Bachmann, is at it again...