Bachmann's Already Picking Her VP
Michele Bachmann, who's been lagging in the polls recently, got some people's attention late yesterday by naming potential running mates should she win the GOP nomination. In separate interviews, she told both the Des Moines Register and CNN that she'd consider Republican rival Rick Santorum a strong VP or attorney general pick. "He’s very sharp on legal issues, very astute, and I would consider him for [vice president] or another cabinet position or I’d even have him on my list for vice president," she told the Register. She continued the VP speculation on CNN with Greta van Susteren. "We've got a lot of wonderful candidates who would fit that bill. Easily comes to mind I think would be Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Marco Rubio of Florida certainly would be in that category. There's a lot of great people out there. And Donald Trump is someone that I think a lot of people would be intrigued with, too."
RELATED: What the Rest of the Republican Candidates Did This Week
It's the potential Bachmann-Santorum pairing that's getting the most attention. Talking Points Memo suspects that the GOP field is ready for a self-identifying social conservative like Bachmann or Santorum to surge, but that voters are unsure of who to throw their support behind. "That’s where the social conservatives are looking right now, ‘Do I go to Santorum or Bachmann?'" one Tea Partier tells TPM. "The question is will they split the vote and fracture it to a point where someone else can win or will people coalesce around one of them?" The Register says that the "two candidates are among the most socially conservative in the GOP field, and share similarly hawkish views concerning Iran and foreign policy in general." Keith Nahigian, a Bachmann spokesperson, suggests to the Iowa newspaper that combining her and Santorum's socially conservative mojo may be the best way of her to have a shot at winning. "Some Santorum supporters are ready to leave their candidate for a more viable one, Nahigian said, but want some assurance that he’ll still have a role to play on the national stage," reports the Register. Perhaps desperate times call for desperate alliances: Bachman and Santorum are currently polling sixth (4.8 percent) and seventh (2.3 percent) respectively in the GOP field, according to Real Clear Politics, and their combined 7.1 percent in the polls doesn't even add up to fifth-place candidate Ron Paul's 8 percent.
