Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann hasn’t received any endorsements from fellow members of Congress, according to a list put together by Roll Call.

Bachmann’s campaign has been struggling since her win at the Iowa Straw Poll in August, largely sunk by a series of gaffes. Though Bachmann isn’t the only candidate without congressional endorsements, she’s the only current member running without such support.

Mitt Romney leads the race with 18 congressional endorsements. Rick Perry has 9, Newt Gingrich has 4, and Ron Paul has 3, including his son Sen. Rand Paul. Former Sen. Rick Santorum hasn’t picked up the support of any of his colleagues and neither has Rep. Thaddeus McCotter. Several other candidates including Herman Cain, Fred Karger and John Huntsman also lack congressional endorsements.

Bachmann founded the House Tea Party Caucus and has yet to draw any of those members to her side. However, other candidates have enticed members of Congress to support them.

Rick Perry has drawn the support of Tea Party Reps. John Culberson and John Carter of Texas, and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

The majority of Newt Gingrich’s support comes from Tea Partiers. Reps. Joe Barton and Michael Burgess of Texas are backing him as well as Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.

Even Mitt Romney, whose campaign has often been criticized by the Tea Party has picked up three endorsements from Bachmann’s caucus: Reps. Rob Bishop of Utah, Ander Crenshaw of Florida, and Wally Herger of California.

Sarah Palin told Fox News listeners last night that the debate, co-hosted by CNN and the Tea Party Express, validated the movement and that she no longer considers the end of September her deadline for making a decision on a presidential run.

“I was very pleased with this debate and very excited about the validation of the tea party movement,” Palin told Fox’s Greta VanSusten. “The winner in this really, I believe, was the tea party movement and that validation of what it is that we’ve been talking about for two years now.”

Palin had high praise for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, noting that he was the only one to discuss going after government fraud, waste and “crony capitalism.”

“Hopefully what he talked about could help teach his colleagues up their on the stage,” she added, speculating that some of the 2012 candidates “don’t have a real strong record to stand on” when it comes to such discussions.

But “any of them” with their “pro-private sector” beliefs, she said, would be better than the failed policies of the Obama administration.

When it comes to her own potential presidential aspirations, however, Palin continues to play coy.

“I’m not going to let the media tell me or dictate when a drop-dead date should be,” Palin said. “I still have that same old dopey, same old answer that I’m sure you guys are getting sick of hearing, and that is I’m still thinking about it, praying about it, contemplating, talking to my family. I’m sick of giving the same answer, believe me. I’m anxious to give an answer and get on with life one way or the other. But whichever direction life takes me, I’m going to continue to speak up for we the people and that tea Party movement and the mama grizzlies.”

Her present role, she said, is to keep raising issues that candidates should be talking about while on the stump because she believes those in the campaign are following her lead.

In his address to Congress Thursday night, President Obama outlined his “jobs plan” to jump start the American economy. Minnesota’s elected officials and interest groups weighed in on Obama’s speech, and the responses fell along party lines.

Rep. Betty McCollum called on the tea party to “Stop the Game Playing and Pass Obama’s Jobs Legislation”:

“The President’s common-sense proposal to put Americans back to work should be passed by Congress as soon as possible. However, even with millions of people out of work and hurting, passing this jobs package requires the Tea Party majority to act in a responsible, bipartisan manner which is doubtful.

“For the past eight months, the world has witnessed an out-of-control Tea Party majority in Congress, harming our economy and stalling job growth with their posturing and political games. The American people want jobs, not dangerous and harmful Tea Party schemes to protect polluters, bust unions, eliminate Medicare, and outsource more jobs.”

Rep. John Kline called on Obama to roll back regulation on corporations:

“For weeks, I have been in Minnesota hearing from job creators, workers, and too many frustrated unemployed Americans about how we can get America working again. They want to see positive solutions that put the nation’s fiscal house in order and remove Washington’s regulatory roadblocks to job creation.

“I was pleased to hear the President heed the call of Americans by expressing a desire to work together to promote long term economic growth. Unfortunately, his call for more stimulus-type measures ignores the reality that people – not government – are our nation’s true job creators. The private sector doesn’t need Washington to tell them how to create jobs; they need Washington to get out of their way.

“I join most Americans who aren’t content with yet another speech. We need commonsense solutions that put Americans back to work. Earlier this year, House Republicans put forth a pro-growth agenda that builds on the Pledge to America, our governing agenda focused on job creation and economic growth. Our ‘Plan for America’s Job Creators’ will address our economic challenges, foster innovation and investment, and help job creators without raising taxes on working families and small business owners. The President should consider our in-depth proposal as well as urge the Democrat-controlled Senate to vote on numerous House-passed bills that could immediately spur job creation.

Sen. Al Franken praised Obama’s plan:

“Our top priority must be getting people back to work. The President presented a smart plan that will create needed American jobs and won’t add a dime to the deficit. This plan will benefit Minnesota, and Congress needs to act on it quickly. This package would put lots of Minnesotans back to work, including teachers, first responders, and construction workers, and put more money in the pockets of our state’s working families.”

Rep. Erik Paulsen said he’s willing to work with Democrats, but not on Obama’s plan:

“Neither party can escape blame for our nation’s economic turmoil. Republicans during the Bush years made mistakes, spending lots of money the country didn’t have. But a few of my colleagues and I want to reform Washington’s reckless, unsustainable ways,” said Paulsen. “I’m always willing to work across the aisle on good ideas to revive the economy. Unfortunately, the President’s remarks tonight were more of a rehash of previously failed policies. He and we can do better.”

Presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann delivered her own response to the president’s speech:

Unfortunately, it seems, every time the President speaks, his policies have cost the American people jobs and future prosperity.

Tonight the President under the veil of one of the most sacred deliberative forums, a joint session of Congress, delivered another political speech where he doubled down on more of the same policies that are killing the economy. Mr. President, what among your proposals was new? What here hasn’t already been tried and failed before? While the President’s speech comes on the heels of a trillion dollars of failed stimulus, bailouts, and temporary gimmicks aimed at creating jobs, the President continued to cling to the idea that government is the solution to creating jobs.

My conservative colleagues and I have been fighting over the last two and half years for pro growth policies.

I stand here tonight to say to the President, not only should Congress not pass your plan, I say, “stop; your last plan hasn’t worked, it’s hurting the American economy.” Instead of temporary fixes, do what has proved to work in the past, permanent pro growth policies that are driven by the free market.”

Bachmann offered her plan to create jobs:

1) Repatriate American business dollars earned from overseas, 2) Massively cut spending and the size of government, 3) Repeal Obamacare, which is the government takeover of America’s healthcare system, 4) Cut taxes, including corporate taxes, 5) Repeal Dodd-Frank, 6) Repeal job killing regulations, 7) Increase exports by finalizing free trade agreements, 8) Spur new investment in America, inspire innovation, 9) Provide job creating energy solutions, including decreased regulations on developing new energy supplies from our abundant domestic energy resources.

Gov. Mark Dayton gushed over Obama’s speech:

“The President’s speech was the best I have ever heard him deliver. He was exactly the decisive, strong, and forward-looking leader our nation needs at this critical moment. He properly called upon all of us to set aside our partisan differences and to unite in support of the best ideas and initiatives for the people of America, for now and for the future.

“The President’s vision should inspire Americans and galvanize Congress. As he stated so eloquently, the time to act is NOW. His American Jobs Act will put thousands of Minnesotans back to work; they need Congress to act NOW.

“As we learn more in the days ahead about the details of the President’s plan, I am confident we will find even more initiatives that will help Minnesota’s citizens, businesses, and economy. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves to support the President’s proposals and to put them to work for Minnesota.”

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson also weighed in on the speech:

“President Obama took a major step toward pushing Congress to finally address our nation’s jobs crisis in his speech this evening.

“Washington politicians have already wasted too much time being guided by a Tea Party Republican agenda of protecting the super-rich while millions of Americans want and need to work.

“The American Jobs Act invests in jobs for middle class families and finally ensures the super-rich and big corporations start paying their fair share in taxes.

“Now is the time to be bold. We call on President Obama to act on his rhetoric and for Congress to end the political log jam to create the jobs Minnesota’s middle class families need.”

Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers-funded political group, announced on Tuesday that it has formed a chapter in Minnesota. The Kochs, along with their state-based chapters of AFP, have been a major supporter of the tea party movement.

Minnesota’s new AFP chapter will be run by John Cooney, a political consultant who worked as political director for former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, a moderate Republican representing the western Twin Cities suburbs.

“Minnesota is in desperate need of reforms which was clearly exemplified by our government’s shutdown,” Cooney said in a statement. “Excessive government spending, Governor Dayton’s push to increase taxes among all income levels, and a growing unemployment rate of almost 8 percent are just a few of the major threats to hard working Minnesotans.

“I will work hard to ensure Minnesotans are in-the-know about key issues affecting their family, paycheck, and homes. It is time to bring economic growth and individual prosperity back to the North Star State.”

Cooney also served as chief of staff to Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, and worked on the campaign of Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill. Cooney was an unsuccessful candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner in 2008.

AFP and the Koch brothers have become somewhat of bogeymen for progressive activists; allegations of voter suppression in Wisconsin’s special elections earlier this month helped fuel that characterization.

Aside from political interest in the state, the Koch brothers own the state’s largest oil refinery in Rosemouth just south of the Twin Cities.

When Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) took first and second, respectively, at Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, they weren’t the only victors; Iowa’s tea party movement, and particularly social and religious conservatives within the movement, mobilized to bring their voices on issues to the forefront.

But pundits find it unlikely similar voices will crop up throughout the nation, the tea party movement’s boost may be short-lived, and mobilization in one contest does not represent a new divide in the Republican between fiscal moderates and social conservatives. As Iowa State University political science professor Dr. Steffen Schmidt put it: “Bachmann gave the tea party (in Iowa) a boost, but Iowa is a more concentrated ‘tea’ than other states.”

Bachmann is the founder of the congressional tea party caucus and typically considered a beacon among activists in the movement. Second-placing Paul has been long called the “intellectual grandfather of the tea party.” The pair embody less government regulations and desire for limited government, but in Iowa, analysts say, tea party ralliers have a different element: social conservatism on issues with voters who want a candidate to stand for their religious — typically Christian — values.

“Some of the groups here in Iowa crossover a bit more into the social issues and that works well for Bachmann,” Dr. Tim Hagle, who teaches political science at the University of Iowa, said. “Overall, this works well for the tea party among Republican voters, as it keeps those issues in the forefront.”

“Although I would argue that social conservatives do not dominate Iowa politics the way some national media outlets seem to suggest, they are clearly more important to the political conversation here than, for example, in New Hampshire,” Hagle continued. “Thus, even though economic and fiscal issues will likely dominate the 2012 election cycle, social conservatives will still want to be sure that the person they support is at least acceptable — if not perfect — on the issues they care about: abortion, gay marriage, (and) home schooling.”

But Saturday’s straw poll doesn’t signal a divide or winds of change within the Republican Party, both Hagle and Schmidt speculated.

“That Bachmann and Paul finished at the top in the straw poll it certainly seems to give a boost to the status of the tea party and its issues, but that doesn’t really result in the notion that some combination of social conservatives and tea party activists have taken over the Republican party (in Iowa),” Hagle said, likening the “takeover” charge to a flavor-of-the-week.

“Although I would argue that social conservatives do not dominate Iowa politics the way some national media outlets seem to suggest, they are clearly more important to the political conversation here than, for example, in New Hampshire,” he continued. “Thus, even though economic and fiscal issues will likely dominate the 2012 election cycle, social conservatives will still want to be sure that the person they support is at least acceptable — if not perfect — on the issues they care about: abortion, gay marriage, (and) home schooling.”

Organizers for the Freedom Jamboree, billed as the national tea party straw poll convention, announced on Wednesday that the event has been canceled due to low attendance. The conference had pulled in two of Minnesota most controversial figures, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and rightwing preacher Bradlee Dean. It was also being organized by Iowa’s Bob Vander Plaats, whose organization, The Family Leader, sparked an uproar in the state after it released a presidential pledge on marriage.

“Everything was set up,” said William Temple, one of the organizers, told the Kansas City Star. “It was just the tea parties themselves weren’t prepared to spend the money to travel and bring their families.”

Roll Call notes that the organizers also had subpar fundraising in addition to low attendance, and it’s the second tea party convention in two years to be canceled because of low attendance.

Along with Bachmann and Dean, presidential candidate Rick Santorum had also accepted an invitation to the jamboree, which was scheduled for the last weekend in September.

Organizers said on Wednesday that they might hold a virtual tea party straw poll.

Rep. Michele Bachmann is ramping up her likely presidential campaign with a series of upcoming travel dates and the addition of a national press secretary. The news was announced as she heads to New Hampshire to participate in the first GOP presidential debate Monday evening and as she scheduled a tea party bus tour of Iowa. She also got a huge platform for her economic views in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, something critics have already vetted.

Bachmann has tapped Alice Stewart as her national press secretary, Fox News reported Sunday. Stewart was Mike Huckabee’s press secretary during his 2008 presidential campaign. Bachmann has already signed on former Huckabee campaign manager Ed Rollins and Huckabee’s old Iowa field organizer Wes Enos.

Fox notes that Stewart will begin her new job today, handling press for Bachmann during the New Hampshire debate.

Bachmann will also be heading to Iowa in two weeks as a part of the Iowa Tea Party Bus Tour, a collaborative event that will bring together the tea party along with anti-gay and anti–abortion rights groups such as the American Principles Project. Bachmann is scheduled to join the tour on June 25 with stops in Indianola and Lamoni. The tour is also aimed at urging GOP candidates to reinstate the gold standard for currency.

The Wall Street Journal conducted an interview and profile of Bachmann on Sunday in which she said, “If I’m in I’ll be all in.” The piece delved into Bachmann’s economic proposals.

Bachmann wants to drastically lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 9 percent and recoup the loss of federal revenue by making poorer Americans pay more in income taxes.

As ThinkProgress notes, the result would be more taxes paid by the poor.

The reason so much of the income tax liability has become concentrated at the top of the income scale is because over the last few decades income inequality has skyrocketed. The richest one percent of the country currently earn nearly one quarter of the income, and therefore pay the lion’s share of the income tax. Bachmann would raise taxes on those who have seen their incomes stagnate or even drop over the last ten years, even as she cuts taxes on the ultra-wealthy.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow made note of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s upcoming September appearance at the Freedom Jamboree, a tea party presidential nominating conference that will also feature Bradlee Dean of the religious group You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. Dean repeatedly has called for the incarceration of gays and lesbians, while Bachmann has frequently helped the group with fundraising.

Maddow noted that many Republican contenders have aligned themselves with religious right groups that have called for Christians to give their lives for the anti-abortion rights cause and have appeared alongside anti-gay leaders, including Dean. Maddow notes that Dean once told radio audiences that Muslim countries are “more moral” than American Christians for executing homosexuals.

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15, 2010, radio show on AM 1280. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”

It’s not Dean’s first mention on Maddow’s show. In Aug. 2008, his comments about Muslims and homosexuality made the show. Maddow noted the link between Dean’s group and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who following Dean’s comments about the execution of gays called the group “nice people.”

Maddow cites the Minnesota Independent’s reporting on the Freedom Jubilee at the 7:25 mark:

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Rep. Michele Bachmann is the first potential presidential candidate to confirm that she will speak at Freedom Jamboree, a tea party “nominating convention for the offices of President and Vice President” to be held in Kansas City in September. The convention has already drawn a motley crew of personalities, including Minnesota’s own Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries.

Freedom Jamboree announced on Monday that Bachmann would be speaking at the event and she will join other notables such as Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and author of Arizona’s controversial SB1070.

Bachmann is the only presidential candidate to confirm. Others who have been invited include Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and Ron Paul.

Bachmann will share the stage with Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, a religious group from her district that advocates the incarceration of gays and lesbians and once described Muslim countries that execute gays as “more moral” than American Christians. Also on hand will be prominent “birther” Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily, movement conservative David Horowitz, anti-Islam activist Joe Kaufman, and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.

It won’t be the first time that Bachmann has shared the stage with Bradlee Dean. In 2009, she headlined a fundraiser for the group and prayed for their ministry.

Minnesota Majority, Minnesota Voters Alliance and the North Star Tea Party Patriots lost a case in court on Friday when U.S. District Court Judge Joan Erickson dismissed the trio’s challenge to a state law that bans political apparel in the polling place. The groups had attempted a campaign to have their supporters bring “Please ID Me” buttons and tea party t-shirts into polling places, but elections officials said the items would not be allowed.

The groups requested a restraining order just days before the 2010 election to force elections officials to throw out the rules regarding political attire in polling places, but Erickson rejected that request.

The groups refiled the complaints following the election on the grounds that the rules that keep political buttons and t-shirts out of the polling place are unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs argued that elections officials violated their free speech rights by prohibiting the voter ID buttons and Tea Party t-shirts in the polling place. Erickson, however, said that the polling place is not a a public forum and that “the state has a well-established, legitimate interest in providing a safe, orderly, advocacy-free polling place.”

She noted that the advocacy that was being promoted by Minnesota Majority and the Tea Party could be perceived as intimidating to voters.

“The language on the button intimates that government-issued identification should be — or is — required in order to vote in Minnesota,” wrote Erickson. “This intimation could confuse voters and election officials and cause voters to refrain from voting because of increased delays or the misapprehension that identification is required.”

She added, “On this basis alone, the Court concludes that it was reasonable to ban the ‘Please I.D. Me’ buttons.”

Minnesota Majority and the tea party also argued that their buttons and t-shirts were not political but Judge Erickson wasn’t buying that argument.

“As the Court considers this case, there is a proposed legislation that would require voter identification pending in the Minnesota House of Representatives,” she wrote. “In July 2010 the U.S. House of Representatives recognized a Tea Party caucus consisting entirely of Republican members of Congress. Mobilizing public opinion on matters of fiscal or electoral policy, or on the proper reach of government, like persuading and organizing elected representation, is ‘political’ activity by any fair estimation.”

She concluded, “Minnesota’s strong interest in creating a neutral zone where individuals can vote free from external influence is reasonably furthered by restricting the expression of political views within the narrow confines of the polling place.”