Rep. Michele Bachmann won by a hair, though it be long and brown, at Saturday’s straw poll in Ames, Iowa.
That she bested a slate of nine men, attests to the tenacity of which she so proudly boasts.
She’s a Tea Party darling whose fiscal and socially conservative stances proved to be the winning ticket among 17,000 voters. She recently voted against raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a Libertarian, came in a close second with his stances on a radically smaller government, no U.S. troops abroad, and reducing the country’s debt.
Tim Pawlenty’s distant third place caused him to drop out of the race Sunday.
Saturday’s straw poll holds no significant meaning — no delegates are delivered — but it would be foolish to dismiss Ms. Bachmann’s win as insignificant.
For some, she’s comfortably familiar.
In her speech Saturday before voters she took only 2 minutes, 22 seconds to explain her platform.
A former tax attorney, Bachmann has served six years in the Minnesota state senate and four and a half years as a U.S. Representative.
She never has held a statewide elected office.
Now in her third term as a representative, Bachmann has yet to chair a committee or subcommittee. No bills or resolutions she has sponsored have become law, and only two have won approval in the House: one designating September as “National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month” and one honoring the 150th anniversary of Minnesotan statehood.
WITH SUCH SCANT credentials to lean on, Bachmann no doubt is betting on the continued weakness of the U.S. economy as her calling card to the White House.
That should not be considered a strength.
— Susan Lynn
