Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa — Things look different in the Midwest. Back in Washington, people are talking about President Barack Obama's poor showing this past week. (Did you see that Maureen Dowd has turned against him?) In Iowa, they're focused on the state Republicans' presidential straw poll in Ames next Saturday. And in Wisconsin, they just got through counting the votes in a recall election that has great national significance. In Iowa, most of the focus has been on Rep. Michele Bachmann. She's only in her third term in the House, and she hasn't sponsored any major legislation; she has no...

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.

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...

Perry and Bachmann on GOP Ticket? By Paul Stanley | Christian Post Reporter July 18,2011 Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to be getting closer to entering the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is already a committed candidate and in all respects, has earned “frontrunner” status. This leads many political analyst and pundits to wonder: Could Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann be the ideal “Dream Team” for Republicans in 2012? Perry successful executive experience, combined with Bachmann’s conservative legislative credentials could make an interesting combination, but could present some challenges at the same time. Kyle Kondik, a political...

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s latest campaign finance report shows she has a strong network of small-dollar donors backing her presidential bid but, for now, she lacks the support of the big-money bundlers. The report, which covers April to June, showed that Mrs. Bachmann collected more than $4.2 million and had $3.6 million in the bank — putting her neck-and-neck with Texas Rep. Ron Paul for second place in the early money chase and in the rearview mirror of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who raised $18 million and has $12.7 million in the bank. With six months until the caucuses and...

The news and blogosphere is filled with responses to the July 14, 2011 story by Joshua Green, the Senior Editor of the Atlantic, entitled "Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope Is the Antichrist." That is because it raises a serious matter which should not be taken lightly, and one which the candidate must address. First, let me share some personal context. I am what is often called a "revert" to the Catholic Church, someone who returned to the Church of my childhood after a long search for the truth. I love being a Catholic Christian. I hold an undergraduate degree...

....some of my colleagues in the world of Catholic media, journalism and the Press have attributed the positions of this Church and Bachmanns past membership to just "being a Protestant." As someone who has worked ecumenically for decades I reject that dismissal. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod does not represent many Protestants. It is an Anti-Catholic body. ....I have worked with, prayed with and collaborated with MANY Protestant Christians, for over three decades, who would NEVER call the successor of Peter the Antichrist. The colleagues to which I refer go further, they seemingly accept the notion that if Protestant Christians...

Serious question: Now that Romney has all but abandoned the state, why aren’t his supporters shifting to Pawlenty? Core Romney fans will stick with their guy, of course, if for no other reason than to deny votes to a candidate like T-Paw who poses a potential long-term threat. But what about all the Iowans who aren’t devoted Mittheads but simply prefer his more moderate managerial cred to Bachmann’s fire and brimstone? Why not get behind the only other candidate who’s (a) seriously contesting Iowa and (b) got the potential to go all the way? Mystifying.Regardless, clock’s a-tickin’, Tim. A new...

ABC and NBC each attacked “Michele Bachmann’s family business” on Tuesday, and strangely, each presented it as their own idea -- “our hidden-camera investigation” (ABC) and “NBC News investigates the controversy” -- even as they both relied on a gay-left advocacy group’s sting operation.Neither story showed any sign that these liberals would consider talking to anyone claiming to be an "ex-gay," like Janet Boynes, someone the Bachmanns have promoted. Wayne Besen, the head of Truth Wins Out, a group staunchly opposed the concept that anyone can be “cured” or “treated for” homosexuality, has been quite clear about how liberalism is...

Eventually, the 2012 Republican presidential primary race will boil down to just two candidates. One will be the establishment candidate and the other will be the conservative candidate. Either would have a real chance of beating Barack Obama in the general election, but the conservative candidate would have the better chance. As early as it is, the Republican Party's internal "establishment" primary is almost over. Only two candidates are now competing for that nod: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman -- who most recently served as Obama's ambassador to China. In the RealClearPolitics average of...

Bachmentum? Michele Bachmann’s momentum continues in her birth state of Iowa, according to a new poll of likely caucus voters by the Iowa Republican. Bachmann surpasses Mitt Romney by four points, while another Minnesotan has also muscled up the ranks: Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has surpassed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in a recent Iowa poll that was conducted by TheIowaRepublican.com. With Bachmann now leading in Iowa, Romney has fallen to second place, but he is still well ahead of third place finisher Tim Pawlenty, who has overtaken Herman Cain my a miniscule margin.Bachmann received support from 25 percent of...

On Meet the Press this morning, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty took a swipe at fellow presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.). “I like Congresswoman Bachmann. I’ve campaigned for her. I respect her. But her record of accomplishment in Congress is non-existent,” he said. “We’re not looking for folks who just have a speech capability.” Bachmann is a major threat to Pawlenty in Iowa, where a Des Moines Register poll puts his support at only 6 percent — and Bachmann’s at 22 percent.

What ‘constitutional conservatism’ means to me By Rep. Michele Bachmann 12:12 AM 07/11/2011 I am a constitutional conservative. So what does that mean? I’ve earned a couple of law degrees, but defining “constitutional conservatism” shouldn’t require a legal scholar. Let me start by pointing out that the conservative movement, as Ronald Reagan believed, is a three-legged stool. One leg consists of peace-through-strength conservatives, another of fiscal and economic conservatives, and the third of social conservatives — the values voters. Constitutional conservatism includes all three of those legs. My candidacy is based on the unity of the conservative movement — because...

A social conservative Iowa group has retracted language regarding slavery from the opening of a presidential candidates' pledge, amid a growing controversy over the document that Michele Bachmann had signed and Rick Santorum committed to. The original "marriage vow" from the Family Leader, unveiled last week, included a line at the opening of its preamble, which suggested that black children born into slavery were better off in terms of family life than African-American kids born today.

[National "Jewish" Democratic Council goes on record as supporting Sharia and misogyny, and opposing the First Amendment.] Presidential candidate Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) signed a highly offensive pledge advanced by the Iowa social conservative group The Family Leader. The pledge insensitively compares childrearing by single parents and same-sex couples to slavery, declares homosexuality a public health risk and compares it to polygamy, polyandry, and adultery, rejects a woman’s right to make decisions about her health, and continues the right wing’s incorrect straw-man argument against Islam. Nearly every point in the pledge conflicts with the values of most American Jews, who...

Bachmann Stands By Marriage Pact That Links Slavery to Black Family Values By Stephen Clark Published July 09, 2011 Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is standing firm behind a pledge she signed Thursday that promotes marriage and social conservative values, but includes a passage that suggests black families were in better shape during slavery. The Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative group led by Bob Vander Plaats, issued the pledge formally called, "The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family." The two page document condemns gay marriage, abortion, pornography and infidelity. But perhaps the most controversial part...

GOP Worried Romney's War Chest Helps Obama, Bachmann By Elspeth Reeve Updated: July 8, 2011 | 8:38 a.m. Mitt Romney crushed his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in the money-raising race, bringing in $18.5 million in the second quarter--more than quadrupling the haul of the second place guy among candidates who don't believe our currency is counterfeit. But it still wasn't good enough for some in the GOP, report Politico's Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, arguing that the "clear winner" of Republican fundraising was Barack Obama. American Conservative Union chief Al Cardenas told Politico he worries that the Republican...