Free Republic

Bachman bests Paul. Pawlenty third. Romney fourth. Works for me!

1 pm EDT -- moments from now -- awaiting Perry speech announcing he is officially running for president

A Minnesota congresswoman was the first choice for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination among Plymouth County fairgoers. The Plymouth County GOP conducted an informal poll of visitors to the party's booth at the fair last week, according to county GOP co-chairman Don Kass. Michele Bachmann received 22 percent of the vote from 380 people filling out the postcard-sized fair poll, Kass reported. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the second place choice with 19 percent support. Ron Paul rounded out the top three with 15 percent of fairgoers' votes.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said today on Laura Ingraham's radio show that the debt-limit deal struck by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders is “like saying we embrace being Greece.” Bachmann preferred the bill she co-sponsored with Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) that would pay the interest on the debt, cut checks for military personnel and then prioritize federal spending. “My opinion is we’re going to now give the president almost a trillion dollars and then come Christmas time, he’ll get potentially--we’ll find it what the final numbers were--potentially upwards...

SPENCER, IA -- Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said she puts "principles over party" and is prepared, if elected, to be a one-term president. "So be it," she said today.

As the Republican race for the White House begins to sort itself out, one thing is becoming clear, Michele Bachmann is the candidate all the others fear. bachmann candidate others fearAmong the 11 declared candidates, polls are beginning to suggest that the Minnesota congresswoman is the one with the best chance of upsetting front-runner Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, and that has put a target on her back for those with longer-shot hopes. Candidate Tim Pawlenty has led the attacks on Bachmann. He likened her lack of executive experience to that of Barack Obama at the 2008 election. His...

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Michele Bachmann and Hermain Cain top the presidential wish-list for conservative women at this year’s Smart Girl Summit. Bachmann was first and Cain a close second in a straw poll of attendees. Both are considered hard-line conservatives. “That does signal that they are gaining some traction among social conservatives, who sometimes are encouraged to go with people who they think might be more ‘winners.’ This time they’re going with people who are ‘believers,’” said St. Louis Beacon reporter Jo Mannies. Cain actually spoke at the conference, and called for elimination of the Enviornmental Protection Agency. Both...

Another poll, this one from Public Policy Polling, finds Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) leading the pack of GOP presidential contenders. Michele Bachmann’s momentum continues to build and she’s taken first place by the smallest of margins on PPP’s newest national Presidential poll. 21% of Republican primary voters say she’s their top choice to 20% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Rick Perry, 11% for Herman Cain, 9% for Ron Paul, 7% for Newt Gingrich, 5% for Tim Pawlenty, and 3% for Jon Huntsman. Bachmann’s rise has been fueled by her appeal to voters on the far right- and their skepticism about...

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) suffers from incapacitating, stressed-induced migraines, The Daily Caller reports, questioning her fitness to be President. The report cites multiple sources close to the GOP presidential candidate confirming the condition, and lists multiple hospital stays and trips to urgent care centers for treatment. "She has terrible migraine headaches. And they put her out of commission for a day or more at a time. They come out of nowhere, and they’re unpredictable,” a Bachmann adviser involved in her 2010 congressional campaign told The Daily Caller. A spokeswoman for Bachmann, Alice Stewart, confirmed ”she suffers from migraines and they’re...

Key members of the Bachmann for President campaign include: Ed Rollins – Campaign Manager - Ed is a veteran campaign consultant and advisor who has worked on several high-profile political campaigns. He served as White House Political Director under President Ronald Reagan, National Campaign Director for Reagan-Bush in 1983-1984, Campaign Chairman for Jack Kemp for President in 1988, Campaign Chairman for Ross Perot in 1992, and was the first non-member of Congress to serve as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. In December 2007, he was named the National Campaign Chairman for the Mike Huckabee presidential campaign. .

Presidential nominee Bachmann does not fall in to the GOP /media politically correct must do's; as Obama, and sometimes wishy washy Boehner and Geithner say raising the debt ceiling must happen or the world will crumble. Bachmann risks the unpopular trend and sticks to her guns;getting badgered by OReilly for going against Boehner and the GOP. Go Bachmann! WATCH THE VIDEO

VIDEO:WATCH THE INTERVIEW:Presidential Candidate Bachmann On Jobs and Unemployment

"As a decedent of generations of Iowans, I was born and raised in Waterloo. As a mom of five, a foster parent and a former tax lawyer and now a small business job creator, I know we can’t keep spending money that we don’t have," GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (Minn.) says in his first advertisement. "That's why I fought against the wasteful bailout, against the stimulus. I will not vote to increase the debt ceiling."

WASHINGTON - Representative Michele Bachmann has rapidly gained ground in a new poll of New Hampshire voters, tapping her popularity with Tea Party activists and potentially causing problems for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor, who has long dominated polls in the Granite State, had his lead cut to single-digits in a new survey done by Public Policy Polling. Although polls taken six months before voters head to the polls can be unreliable, they can also provide a window into a volatile Republican electorate. Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, would get 18 percent of the vote, according to the...

Expect Matthew Continetti's piece in the Weekly Standard to boost the candidacy of Michele Bachmann. Now I have to admit, I have not been a Bachmann fan. But I had to pay attention to Continetti's assertion: Bachmann is a far more serious candidate for the Republican nomination than her reputation would suggest. She's a talented fundraiser who raised $13.5 million for her 2010 reelection campaign. She's a television star who appropriately tailors her message to her audience. Her combativeness will delight conservatives eager to fight Barack Obama. Her movement credentials -- she founded the House Tea Party Caucus -- put...

Is Bachmannia replacing Obamamania? Has Sarah Palin elected Michele Bachmann? Have liberals who spent the better part of the last three years scornfully pouring vitriol on Sarah Palin helped Minnesota Congresswoman Bachmann -- like Palin an attractive conservative working mother of five (don't forget the 23 foster kids) from the American working class -- to a place on the GOP ticket instead? In one of the more delicious ironies in the history of presidential politics? After all this time of insisting Palin was (pick one) "profoundly stupid" (MSNBC's Chris Matthews), "dumb as a brick" (Young Turk's Cenk Uygur, now with...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who formally announced her presidential candidacy Monday in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, enters the race with 69% name recognition among Republicans and ties for the highest Positive Intensity Score of any GOP candidate Gallup tracks. Bachmann finds herself in a relatively positive position among Republicans as she begins her formal campaign. Her name recognition is up to 69% for the two-week period of June 13-26, having climbed from 52% in late February/early March. This places her fifth among the most well-known Republicans Gallup measures, behind Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and...

RAYMOND N.H. — New GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann charmed a backyard of Granite State voters yesterday with her trademark straight talk but bristled at comparisons to fellow Tea Party star Sarah Palin, telling the Herald she’s got a style all her own. “We both have unique skill sets. I have great respect and admiration for Gov. Palin, I consider her a friend, but I have a unique skill set that I bring to the table,” said Bachmann, 55, after announcing her presidential campaign to New Hampshire voters yesterday morning. Andy Schwargler, 45, of Orford, N.H., drove more than an...

Sarah Palin was in Iowa Tuesday. Michele Bachmann announced her candidacy there on Monday. For reporters, that's a coincidence impossible to resist; scads of stories are being produced comparing the two women. Comparisons between Palin and Bachmann are, at one level, apt. Both are women who align most closely with social conservatives. Both are outspoken defenders of their chosen causes whose rhetoric occasionally gets them into hot water. But over the past few months, Bachmann has proven she is different in important ways from Palin - differences that make her the more viable of the two when it comes to...

There’s a lot I don’t know about Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Representative who just announced that she wants to be the next President of the United States of America, but I do know she is great eye candy and, given the present occupier of the office, I would much rather look at her in the Oval Office than him. She is—and I say this with all due respect—a babe. Mitt Romney, with whom she is currently a “front runner” in the nomination sweepstakes, looks classically presidential. He is a handsome fellow with a winning smile. My guess, though, is that...