Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s hope of winning the first-in-the-nation caucuses on January 3 could turn out to be nothing more than an out-of-reach dream.
Less than two weeks ago, her team stated that she would spend at least 40 days campaigning in Iowa ahead of the state’s contest. In spite of her efforts to dedicate most of her time to the Hawkeye State, the latest Des Moines Register’s poll places the Minnesota congresswoman in fourth place, with only eight percent of those questioned backing the 55-year-old.
When questioned by Christiane Amanpour, who hosts ABC’s “This Week”, Mrs. Bachmann sounded less than confident when she was asked whether Iowa was still a “must-win state”. Whereas her team stated less than a fortnight ago that the state of Iowa was their main focus, Mrs. Bachmann gave the impression that her campaign’s priorities had changed. “We’re focused on it [Iowa] as we are on all the states,” she told Amanpour.
Mrs. Bachmann’s former national campaign manager, Ed Rollins, feels this change in direction is not the result of a calculated plan aimed at increasing her chances of reaching the finish line. According to him, Mrs. Bachmann does not have the funds to succeed in Iowa. Moreover, he does not believe her campaign team knows what to do in order to win the contest there. Although Mr. Rollins suffered a stroke last year, he no longer claims he abandoned the Republican candidate because of ill health. The real reason he left, he now says, is because he did not wish to have to work with someone “who would not listen and had no money.”
The financial difficulties experienced by Mrs. Bachmann have been well publicized throughout the campaign. Only last month, reports suggested the Minnesota congresswoman was $500,000 in debt. Her staffing issues have also been widely covered in the media over the past few months. In the wake of Mr. Rollins’s departure last September, David Polyanski, her then deputy campaign manager, revealed that he would also be stepping down. Ten days ago, her New Hampshire team announced they had decided to resign en masse in protest at their leader’s apparent lack of interest in the Granite State’s voters.
Although Mrs. Bachmann remains a contender in the race to the White House, no one can deny that her future as a presidential candidate is less than certain. Some are even convinced that the Minnesota representative will have dropped out of the race by the time the Iowa caucuses are held next January.
2011 Iowa Straw Poll results.
In the meantime, Mrs. Bachmann will carry on regardless of the rumors regularly surrounding her campaign. Her most important engagement in Iowa this week will take place on Thursday. Indeed, she is scheduled to speak about her economic blueprint in Ames, the very same place where she narrowly won the straw poll last August.
