The Bachmann supporters are already trying to pretend that what Rollins said wasn't a big deal, is old news, and that Bachmann doesn't bear any responsibility for what was said by one of her own senior campaign advisors. I guess we won't see a 'Buck stops here' placard on her desk anytime soon.
Hmm, does the name Chuck Devore ring a bell?
If Bachmann made an error in judgement hiring Rollins, then what did Palin do using her star power to endorse non-Conservative candidates such as Carly Fiorina? She apparentally even had a staffer that told the Devore supporters to “get over it” that their candidate had no chance in hell of winning, despite being the most conservative candidate in that race. Or supporting McCain for his reelection bid? And if you try to say she was just “paying the party dues”, then what the hell do you think Santorum was doing when he endorsed Spector?
Do I really care about the above? Not really. Palin endorsing someone like Fiorina or McCain doesn’t make me think she’s sold out or is any less conservative. And neither does Bachmann’s hiring of Rollins.
Rollins is a political consultant by trade. His job is to help his client get elected, or he loses his job. Rollins got hired because he had success taking a candidate in 2008 from Tier 2 to Tier 1, which essentially gave McCain the nomination, but more importantly, Huckabee’s success led toward the derailment of Mitt Romney’s 2008 bid. Rollins knows how to deal with Romney and get under his skin. And Bachmann, a Tier 2 candidate with strong support from Huckabee-type social conservatives , is hoping to follow the same path Hucakbee did with the following:
1. Ames Straw Poll win
2. Continued success at the debates and in the polls which forces Romney to take notice and drag him into firing the “first shot” like he did in 2008. Acheiving this would be an admission of the Romney campaign that he is vulnerable. This is why I believe you haven’t seen Michele go after Romney yet.
3. Dealmaking if you have to, to keep the momentum out of Romney’s hands. (Herman Cain/Rick Santorum) would be the players here.
That’s not a bad strategy. The difference between 2008 and 2012 is that Huckabee largely had his base to himself. Fred got in late and made a run for it in SC, but overall Huckabee had the South locked up.
Rollins “problem” is that he is faced with the notion of Sarah Palin getting into the race. His comments leads me to believe that he thinks she’s getting in regardless of how well Michele does during the campaign. He knows Palin’s charisma would be enough to pull a good chunk of the Bachmann voters away. I think he’s weary of “playing nice” because it won’t bring in any new voters to Bachmann. So the idea was to come up with a comment, that while critical, was not meant to be so sharp, but was a pre-emptive attempt to try and keep Palin out, but not turn things so ugly as to eliminate any chance of a Palin endorsement should she decide to stay on the sidelines and play kingmaker.
Obviously Rollins failed at this, which is why he tried to clean up the comments the following night, but that didn’t make it any better. I’m not going to condone this part of the strategy because I believe its stupid. But Politics is politics. What’s really a shame about this is Rollins has tied Michele to essentially go negative if/when Palin enters, which is very unfortunate. The Palin staff meanwhile, will be completely off the hook. They know when she gets in, they’ll pick off enough support from the Bachmann/Cain supporters without ever having to go negative, which will elevate Palin further as “the candidate above the fray”. The more I think about it, the more I beleive that if Palin is getting in, it will be very close to the Iowa Caucus, like mid-January, followed by a 3-week blitzkrieg accross the state. The sheer excitement and short-notice of this even would almost prevent any other campaign from responding in a timely manner..
My point is Palin like Bachmann, Bachmann like Palin, they’re both good and decent people, and in the end, one’s probably going to end up endorsing the other without reservation.
If I’m running the Bachmann campaign, I stick to the original three points of the good part of the strategy listed above and avoid the negative comments. They’re not going to be able to control Palin’s entry. The best they can do is raise Michele’s positives like she was on Monday night.