Michele Bachmann's 2012 Run Is Coming To An End

Last weekend, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) entire paid New Hampshire campaign staff resigned, citing a poor working relationship with Bachmann’s national campaign staff, a lack of focus on the state, and an overall loss of faith in the congresswoman as the reasons behind their resignation. This mass exodus is another huge blow to the presidential hopes of the one time GOP front-runner.

Bachmann’s steady decline was to be expected, but it is still a bit surprising at how quickly it began. Following her win in the meaningless Iowa straw poll, Bachmann has seen her numbers slowly dwindle, as she has gone from a top-tier contender to one barely worthy of making the nightly talk shows. Now that Bachmann is deflated, nearly broke, and losing a lot of followers, she should step out of the burning spotlight of the presidential election and get back to her post in Congress where she is needed.

Bachmann could not help but spew fallacies or gaffes on a regular basis. The majority of Bachmann’s comments dating back to June 2011 were found to be at least half false or worse by Politifact.com. Her crude attempt at attacking Texas Governor Rick Perry’s decision to allow girls as young as 12 to choose to have HPV vaccinations turned out horribly wrong after she claimed that a young girl “suffered mental retardation from the vaccine.”

Bachmann also lacked the home run policies needed to make a huge impact in the race; just look at 9-9-9 for an example. She harped a great deal on the failed policies of the Obama administration but often neglected to offer an alternative, and when she did, her policies did not spark a great deal of interest.

Yes, Bachmann was near the top of the polls for a while and won the Ames straw poll, but that is ancient history now. She peaked at the straw poll, the new CNN poll shows that she has now plummeted down to near the bottom of the pack in Iowa. She spent a lot of time and effort in Iowa only to be out staged by Perry’s admittance to the race.

Bachmann was never the choice of the GOP when it came to a female candidate; they wanted Sarah Palin, instead they had to settle for a second rate copy. For how divisive Palin is, she is a captivating (polls show she is more competitive against Obama than Bachmann) and polarizing personality (in March, 58% of Republicans viewed her favorably), one that draws news coverage and potential voters. People are attracted to her, they listen to her, they laugh at her awful jokes, and they read the pages upon pages of random words thrown together she calls a book. Palin is a GOP superstar, while Bachmann often looks like a deer in headlights hoping not to get run over.

Bachmann’s followers and staff are quickly losing faith in her. The New Hampshire exodus was not the first major campaign shake up; campaign chief Ed Rollins threw in the towel last month, labeling Bachmann the "third candidate (behind Mitt Romney and Perry)." Bachmann needs to get back to Washington to finish the job she was elected to do. Her recent voting record in the Congress is showered with numerous “did not vote,” missing opportunities to vote on budgetary issues and abortion issues. Her pointless attempts to grasp a tiny sliver of hope of being the Republican presidential nominee does nothing to help the constituents she was elected to serve in the House.

Photo Credit:Gage Skidmore