Michele Bachmann is doubling down on Ed Rollins, even though health concerns (allegedly) are the reason he will not run her campaign on a day-to-day basis:
Sources close to Rep. Michele Bachmann tell National Review Online that the Minnesota Republican has known for days that Ed Rollins, her campaign manager, would be stepping down from that post. Rollins reportedly spoke with Bachmann last Thursday and discussed his growing concerns about his health. His increased workload, he told Bachmann, following her Ames straw-poll win, worried his family. She respected his decision but urged him to stay involved.
Indeed, the relations between the pair, one source says, remain warm, and Rollins will be “kind of a Yoda” moving forward, advising Bachmann’s team about big-picture strategy. He will also remain on the payroll and will travel with the Bachmann family to high-profile events.
The interesting thing is that the latest Iowa caucus polling (for what it’s worth) shows that Bachmann is 11 points behind Rick Perry in her home state. What has Ed Rollins done for her lately?
Not much other than alienate Palin supporters and make Bachmann toxic to them. My gut tells me that if Palin announces she is not running, the gap between Perry and Bachmann will widen.
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Comments
This may be a classic example of a promising candidate taking themselves out of the race with one big mistake. If she had sicced Rollins on Obama instead of other Republicans she’d still be a contender.
TJ has it. I would really like all the Republican candidates to focus sharply on their economic policy differences between themselves and the present administration first. And, their policy differences among themselves second. A clean discussion of policy decisions should not give rise to negative campaign ads.
Remember all those positive, high-flown endorsements of Mr. Wonderful in the last Presidential campaign? They worked.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Ed Rollins, but he has a “dark side” that comes out every now and then.
Frankly, he handling of Michele Bachmann’s campaign could best be described as “Munchausen by Proxy.”
Funny you should blog on this, because I read this article earlier this morning; by Erick Erickson.
I agree with you, and @TeeJaw. Michele had a shot, but Rollins has put her out of the running. Sad, because she has solid, conservative principles.
My favorite line from Erickson’s post: “My friend Ed Rollins is stepping aside as the campaign manager….” It explains so much, both about Erick and what I read at RedState.
Somewhere deep in Bachmann’s camp, or in her heart-of-hearts, there’s a desire for ultimate failure. Nothing else explains the irrational dependance on Rollins. Post-Ed her campaign has looked more like a disaster than a master strategy. Too bad. She should soon be a former candidate, too.
I knew Yoda, and you, Mr. Rollins, are no Yoda.
It may have surprised her how well she was doing. She may not have planned to go so far. She may have jumped in for a committee chairmanship in the house or a cabinet position or VP or even name recognition nationally and planned to run seriously in a few years. Her platform may be solid but she has no more experience than obama. She is also a poor man’s Palin. She does not have the charisma that Palin has. I’m sure she’s a good person but with the people on the dole and minority special interest groups (evidently 45% of the public) she could not defeat obama. It would be suicide for us to nominate her. I was slightly stunned when I heard she was running and wondered if she was on some kind of ego trip. Maybe being so popular with the tea party movement went to her head. I wonder why all these candidates are still in the race with such low numbers. Do they hope these numbers will rise as time goes by? Huntsman, I understand. He hopes the media will get him nominated.