COMMENTARY | Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has hit what can be described euphemistically as a "rough patch" in her campaign. The congresswoman's credibility as a candidate, which was never too high among most political analysts, took a few more shots in the past week with the continued questioning about an unsubstantiated HPV vaccine story she told after last week's CNN/Tea Party Express (where she did rather well by most accounts), a former chief of staff questioning her "impulsiveness" and her former campaign manager Ed Rollins questioning her campaign's ability to get past Iowa should she lose the nation's first Caucus.
But as CNN reported Monday, the Minnesota congresswoman, who was again in Iowa, said her campaign was "alive and well and doing very, very well." But is it really?
"Well, our campaign is alive and well and doing very, very well," Bachmann said in response to Rollins' statements that the campaign had neither the political clout or the finances to move past Iowa without a victory. "And we're thrilled with how we're doing. We are the only campaign that won the very important Iowa straw poll."
Regardless of her optimistic tone, it is doubtful Bachmann is "thrilled" with the how her campaign is doing. The last 10 major national polls, as indicated in a Real Clear Politics listing, have placed her well behind frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, and only two of them scored her support above 10 percent.
The latest, from Rasmussen Reports, places her at 8 percent, with Perry leading at 28 percent and Romney in second with 24 percent. (And as an aside: the "very important Iowa straw poll" she referred to is truly only a bragging rights poll and one of testing a campaign's ability to mobilize voters. Its "importance" is hyped and the poll's record of picking winning Republican candidates is minimal.)
Apparently, false confidence and euphemisms will be the theme when it comes to Bachmann because it is doubtful any of the major Republican candidates will be overly tough on her for fear of her ability to retaliate (she not only hit Gov. Perry on his 2007 HPV vaccine scandal at the CNN/Tea Party Express Republican Presidential Debate, she also alluded to crony capitalism involving a former associate and the pharmaceutical company that manufacture's the HPV vaccine itself).
She has been an aggressive campaigner and has had little problem criticizing her fellow candidates and President Barack Obama. And now that what was a second-place contender has become a barely mentionable poll filler, her lashing out at the frontrunners could become a problem for them later in the presidential race as others use her information to score political points with the electorate.
Succinctly: There is nothing more dangerous in the political arena than a wounded politician -- even if all the wounds have been self-inflicted -- just trying to survive.
Known as a politician with a penchant for gaffes and outlandish statements and/or positions, Bachmann has done herself no favors over the last couple months by making headline after headline with said gaffes, unsubstantiated claims, and controversial statements. From Founding Fathers that worked to abolish slavery (they did not) to easily checked falsehoods about President Obama's off-shore drilling moratorium to stating that she found drilling in the Everglades acceptable if done "responsibly," the congresswoman has become a casualty of her own verbal irresponsibility.
The shake-up in her campaign staff in early September was a clear sign that there was trouble in the Bachmann camp, even though Rollins and David Polyansky departed (actually Rollins only took a more advisory role; Polyansky resigned his position) with kind words for the candidate. A former chief of staff's (she's had half a dozen since arriving in Washington in 2007) comments on CNN last week that she was "impulsive" and may not comprehend all the information she takes in -- an observation on her HPV vaccine story that linked the drug to possible mental retardation -- could be a good indicator as to why Rollins and Polyansky stepped aside. Having a client that is unmanageable and unpredictable -- not to mention somewhat ill-informed -- can take its toll on a political staff.
Still, as to her statement about her campaign being "alive and doing very, very well." Euphemistically speaking, the statement stands as true. Realistically, Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign is barely on life support, fading, and in dire need of something -- anything -- for resuscitation.
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