A new Gallup poll of potential 2012 Republican nominees for the White House shows Minnesota’s two contenders, Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Michele Bachmann, in the low single digits among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Bachmann ranked sixth in the poll with Pawlenty just behind her at seventh.
Tim Pawlenty slammed Wisconsin Democrats on Wednesday for leaving the state to prevent the passage of a bill that would curtail collective bargaining rights for the state’s public employees. Pawlenty called them “ninnies” who “skedaddled,” and he said the controversy is not “Fantasy Island” but “Alice in Wonderland.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann was on a tear: In one of her most fiery stump speeches to date, the tea party leader told a South Carolina audience that the tax code was a “weapon of mass destruction,” that President Obama is “babying” terrorists, that the rich pay too much in taxes, that social issues like marriage and abortion cannot be put on the “back burner,” and that Fox News’ Glenn Beck can solve America’s budget deficit.
Rep. Michele Bachmann told Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network Friday that she will “look to the Lord” for guidance on whether she’ll run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Bachmann, whose activism in the tea party movement and among conservative evangelical Christians has her visiting most parts of the country, has repeatedly said that her faith would guide her decision to seek higher office.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is scheduled to headline a tea party summit in Phoenix, Ariz., from Feb. 25 to 27. The “American Policy Summit-Pathways to Liberty” is being marketed as the official two-year anniversary of the tea party movement. Pawlenty will also be headed to Nashville to speak on a panel with Arianna Huffington and Bill Kristol in March.
Rep. Michele Bachmann has the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina on her itinerary, while former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is headed to early-caucus state Nevada following trips to Virginia, Florida and Arkansas — the latter fueling speculation that Pawlenty may make a play for supporters of Mike Huckabee if he decides not to run for president in 2012.
Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty were in the middle of the pack in a straw poll at CPAC, a yearly gathering of conservative activists. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was, for the second year, the top vote getter with 37 percent of the first and second choice of voters. Bachmann and Pawlenty were sixth and seventh out of 15 candidates.
Further fueling the speculation that Rep. Michele Bachmann may be making a bid for the White House in 2012, she handed out jerseys with “Bachmann” on the front and “12″ on the back at a reception Thursday evening. As promised, Bachmann also gave away vouchers for free drinks as she collected information from attendees at CPAC, an annual gathering of conservatives which has drawn over 11,000 attendees this week.
Nate Silver of the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight graphed the potential 2012 presidential contenders based on their insider/outsider status and their position on a moderate-to-conservative scale. Not surprisingly, Rep. Michele Bachmann took the conservative extreme. Tim Pawlenty, on the other hand, was rated smack in the middle of the graph. Silver notes that he had trouble ranking the enigma that is Minnesota’s former governor.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s tea party response to President Obama’s State of the Union address last week became fodder for Saturday Night Live when SNL’s Kristen Wiig lampooned Bachmann in the opening scene. She played with the fact that Bachmann used a number of charts during her response, and that she appeared not to face the camera during CNN’s live broadcast.
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