Defiant Michele Bachmann keeps fighting for Iowa

AP

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA - Michele Bachmann isn't giving up without a fight.

After stopping in at a luncheonette, pet store and florist here on Monday, the Minnesota lawmaker implored supporters not to "settle" for one of her rivals, telling reporters she would govern "in the image and likeness of a Ronald Reagan of a Margaret Thatcher, and that's what I will do."

"My goal," she said, "is to be America's iron lady."

She may not have the chance. Bachmann was on top of the political world just five months ago, having scored an Iowa straw poll victory that had the media casting her as the clear frontrunner to win the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses - and a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

But polls now suggest Bachmann is poised to finish at or near the bottom of the pack in the caucuses, which will take place around the Hawkeye State this evening. Bachmann has campaigned hard - she recently visited 99 Iowa counties in a week-and-a-half - but she has little to show for it: While Rick Santorum has surged in support with the help of the same social conservatives Bachmann is courting, the Minnesota lawmaker has been reduced to insisting to reporters that she won't be dropping out of the race tomorrow morning.

Amid a tightly-packed scrum of reporters at Paula's Made Rite luncheonette on Monday, Bachmann shook hands, posed for pictures - "go Facebook it!," she said more than once - and implored Iowans to caucus for her tonight. (According to her husband Marcus, Bachmann ordered a triple malt chocolate milkshake to drink on the campaign bus.) In a media availability afterword, she stressed her middle class credentials, her support for "traditional marriage" and "religious liberty," her national security experience (Bachmann serves on the House intelligence committee), her ability to "fearlessly" debate and defeat President Obama, and the fact that she is a native Iowan.

She also went after the men who are leading her in the polls. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, she said, supported "socialized medicine" and are thus unlikely to repeal the health care law; Ron Paul would be "dangerous" because of his national security views; and Santorum "has voted for the bridge to nowhere [and] defends the practice of earmarks," and previously supported the "pro-abortion" Arlen Specter in the 2004 Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary.

Jane Livingston of Des Moines said she was backing Bachmann because she would "repeal Obamacare," "secure our borders" and "get back to the Constitution."

"Family values are huge for me," she added. "I'm a Christian."

Another self-described conservative, Rod Wisecup, said he likes Bachmann - "she's pretty staunch, she stands by what she thinks" - but suggested he is leaning toward Santorum.

"Santorum's got a little bit more experience," he said. "The thing that scares me about Bachmann is she only has like four years as a congressman and she's got some learning to do."

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

It's not entirely clear why Bachmann has fallen in the polls since her August straw poll victory. Bachmann did not trip up in the debates, like Rick Perry, or get hurt by a barrage of negative ads, like Newt Gingrich; she is essentially the same relentlessly on-message candidate she was back in August, when she garnered celebrity-level adulation as she was driven around the straw poll grounds in a golf cart.

One theory, popular among the reporters who have followed Bachmann on a daily basis, is that her attempts to engage Iowa voters have backfired. Bachmann's recent 99-county tour involved an average of ten events per day, a situation that forced the candidate to give a short stump speech, shake a few hands and move on to the next event quickly. The situation was even worse when Bachmann was running late; she would try to make up time throughout the day, which meant shortening already-tight stops and sometimes trying to engage voters while the music was still blaring from speakers overhead. Her emphasis on quantity over quality of campaign stops may have rubbed undecided voters who took time out of their day to see and potentially engage the candidate the wrong way.

Bachmann communications director Alice Stewart disputes the notion that Bachmann did not connect with voters during her tour.

"She loves to visit with the people. She will shake every single hand in the room. It's not a matter of just dropping into a place, driving through a place, she enjoys doing this with the people," said Stewart, who said undecided voters regularly left events supporting Bachmann. "She's humbled by the fact that they come out and want to meet with her."

"It's hard to visit with each and every person," Stewart added, "but every venue we went to we made every attempt for her to sit down and visit with people face to face and shake hands and speak with them."

Another theory is that Bachmann's gender has done Bachmann no favors. Bachmann is the only woman in the GOP field, and many conservative voters here largely say that while they have no problem supporting a woman, "it's a factor for other people," in the words of Robin Pospisil.

"There's a lot of people that would feel like a man is stronger," adds Jolene Beveridge, who came out to see Bachmann on Monday - though she added: "Times are changing - she seems pretty strong to me." (Asked about whether Bachmann's gender has hurt her, Stewart responded, "we don't see that.")

Perhaps most harmful to Bachmann has been the perception that she simply can't win the nomination - let alone the election - in part because of a lack of resources.

"She's a sweet lady but I don't think she can pull it off," said a woman who gave her name only as Karen. Added Beveridge: "I hear everybody say that she doesn't have enough [money] to go on."

Bachmann is stressing the fact that more than 200 Iowa pastors have endorsed the candidate, and Bachmann says she expects their congregations to come out tonight in support of her. Her campaign says that over three days volunteers made over 10,000 calls on her behalf from her campaign headquarters, a "concentrated phone-banking effort" it says will pay dividends.

And while there are those who say she should consider dropping out tomorrow - among them Sarah Palin, who said on Fox News Monday that it may be time for Bachmann to "start saying 'why don't we coalesce around one of the other candidates'" - Bachmann insists that she will soldier on. She is signaling that she will essentially skip the New Hampshire primary one week from now - though she will participate in a pair of debates in the Granite State - and make what could be her last stand in South Carolina, which holds its primary on January 21. If she doesn't do well enough there to spur an influx in donations, she may well be forced to drop out of the race before the Florida primary on January 31.

Livingston, the Bachmann supporter who came to see Bachmann campaign on Monday, said she hoped Iowans would put their concerns about Bachmann's viability aside and back the third-term congresswoman because of her message.

"I hope that people will go to the polls and forget all the media people that say this one can't go on or that one doesn't have the money, because this is the process, and if we don't let the process happen - I just think it's so unfair and I hope that people will vote their conscience," she said.

With reporting by CBS News/National Journal off-air reporter Rodney Hawkins.

Full CBS News coverage: Michele Bachmann

21 Photos

Michele Bachmann on the campaign trail

[silvalgal]

Michele Bachmann would never get my precious vote but she conducted herself with complete dignity, poise and smarts, which is such a welcome counterpoint to that shrill, embarrassing GOP hick, Sarah Palin. If Bachmann concedes, you can bet she will do so in the same admirable way she campaigned. Bachmann will always be a formidable politico to note and watch.

[hercsurf1]

Just the fact that 200 crazy religious pastors are backing her is enough not to vote for her...

[abby_del_abbey]

bachmann has had her "waterloo" -- she just doesn't accept it (or is just hoping more suckers will donate to her lost cause)

can't we send her to St. Helena? (she would probably try to come back just like Napoleon if we sent her to Elba....)

[pholberton]

Unfortunately Representative Bachmann is trying too hard to convince us that she can lead this great nation.

Leadership comes in all varieties and forms and I am convinced she can play a leadership role in our Nation yet I can't see her as the leader of the free world.

Phil Holberton
Speaking of Leadership®

[sparkskid]

Even Michele isnt so stupid as to think she has a chance here...but if she continues despite all odds she will maximize her appeal for books asn speaking tours and bilk all of her sheeple out of millions after the primary. This is the same old Moral Majority, the same old Family Values, the same TV-preacher anti Roe, Dominionist crap the Evangelicals have been giving us for decades now. In 20 years, most of these people will be dead. Michele, like Palin did, is just using this stage to enhance her brand for books and speaking tours. Greed from an Evangelical? Nahhhhh! LOL

[Lindag10]

Just heard Cain says he wants to be Secretary of Defense. Guess he hasn't made enough to appease his wife.

[CelticHappyDon]

Well she can "Kiss the Irish Community good-bye IF SHE MODELS HERSELF after a the Irin Lady that killed one of her own Parliament members plus thirteen other good men. Why doesn't she just Stop.

[dtschuck]

Intelligent people are slow to make up their mind, as they assess and sort facts, observations and analysis, but when their mind is made up, they are quick to change it when new facts become known.

On the other hand, low-ed people are quick to make up their mind, but are very slow to change it, even in the face of facts to the contrary.

Which group do you thing the TeaBaggers fit in?

[dtschuck]

The clueless always fight on. Probably the only two sane candidates, Pawlenty and Huntsman, excused themselves when it became obvious that they weren't wacko enough to have a shot at the GOP nomination.

[Tired_of_liars]

by weneedbigchanges January 3, 2012 9:27 AM EST
I agree about Democrats are really stupid. "tired of Liars" needs to understand it goes two ways. Democrats can't throw stones either. Do you remember when there we closed door sessions when the "Health "UNCARE"" bill was in closed door sessions and then crammed down our throat? How soon people forget.... since it is always in the process of being repealed piece by piece. Notice Democrats minds are a steel sieve about that one and a lot of stuff they passed during that time when they should have been worrying about JOBS and UNEMPLOYMENT.... remember that in the next election.
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I don't like either party to be honest. If I had my way, they all would get pink slips in November. They really don't care about the American people until it's Election time. On off years, they give us the finger and do what they want anyway

[Tired_of_liars]

by jimbom121 January 3, 2012 9:19 AM EST
umm, the tea partiers started using that term back in April 2009.
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Um Jim, That was an event that they planned idiot. It was a rally on Tax Day, or did you miss that part of the story?