COMMENTARY | In a master stroke of media savvy, Michele Bachmann announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination during Monday's GOP debate in New Hampshire. Appearing polished and poised, Bachmann certainly looked the part. Though her war chest is sizable, she'll have plenty of stumbling blocks to overcome, both with voters and within her own party.
Bachmann's advantages as a candidate
Bachmann is polished, professional and attractive
Bachmann's looks will be an asset on the campaign trail. She is pretty, poised and intelligently articulate in a way that Sarah Palin isn't. While Bachmann may be controversial when she speaks, her look is unquestionably presidential.
Bachmann has strong backing in the Tea Party and Religious Right
Bachmann's small government and anti-abortion positions have made her the darling of both the Tea Party and the religious right. Her supporters are vocal and willing to open their checkbooks for her. Despite restrictions on non-profits endorsing candidates, Bachmann's name will be spoken from church pulpits across the nation.
Bachmann has a sizable war chest and the ability to get more
The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Bachmann's 2009-2010 campaign raised $13.5 million, with the vast majority coming from individual donors. While that sum is impressive, the congresswoman will need every penny to go head-to-head with frontrunner Mitt Romney, who brought in $107 million during his 2008 campaign.
Bachmann's disadvantages as a candidate
Bachmann comes in near the bottom in most polls
A Gallup poll Monday showed that only 5 percent of Republicans would choose Bachmann as their preferred candidate. Bachmann trailed every known candidate except Newt Gingrich. While Bachmann's debate performance will boost those numbers, she has a long way to go to close on Romney's 24 percent. Even worse, a Jan. 20 poll by Public Policy Polling showed Bachmann losing to Obama 51-33.
That's bad news for Bachmann, since Gallup also reports that the most important issue in choosing a candidate for 56 percent of conservative Republicans is the ability to beat Obama. The only poll Bachmann has ever won was an April survey of evangelical and conservative Christians at Liberty University, according to CNN.
Bachmann can't keep staff
Like Newt Gingrich, Bachmann has been plagued by high staff turnover. The Daily Caller reports that Bachmann lost her legislative chief of staff and her highly successful campaign finance director just before Monday's debate. USA Today reports she has churned through six chiefs of staff since taking office in 2007. If Bachmann is to have any chance at the nomination, she'll need to solve her staffing issues.
Bachmann's positions are too extreme
The biggest drawback for Bachmann's candidacy is a history of unelectable policy positions. Her version of small government means eliminating Medicare and "weaning people off" Social Security, according to The Minnesota Independent: ideas that won't go over well with seniors or mainstream Republicans. Other agencies on the chopping block include the departments of Education, Energy and Commerce, as reported in the Des Moines Register.
The front page of Bachmann's political action committee, MichelePAC, features a prominent link to a petition urging legislators to push the government into default by refusing to lift the debt ceiling, a move with disastrous consequences, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Reuters.
Bachmann's stringent anti-abortion views may not allow exceptions for rape or incest, another unpopular extreme. CBS News reports that Bachmann supported Republican-introduced legislation limiting Medicaid funding for abortions except in cases of "forcible" rape, a definition that would have excluded cases of incest, statutory rape or any case where there was insufficient force (the word "forcible" has since been dropped). Bachmann also favors mandatory teaching of intelligent design in public schools, reports Politico.
The culmination of these views impairs Bachmann's chances not only for election should she receive the nomination, but also her chances of winning the nomination at all. Even as a running mate, her willingness to state controversial views in provocative language cannot be anything more than a distraction.
