Tag: Michele Bachmann

The Family Leader, an Iowa religious right group that has been active in GOP caucuses of that state, backtracked on a pledge the group released last week that asked candidates to vow to oppose pornography and same-sex marriage. The pledge contained a controversial statement about slavery, and over the weekend, the Family Leader removed that reference. Rep. Michele Bachmann — the first signer of the pledge — said that she wasn’t signing off on the preamble that contained the slavery reference, only the vows themselves.

Provided South Carolina’s GOP can raise enough money to host the coveted first-in-the-South GOP presidential primary, the state will significantly impact which Republican is nominated to face off with President Obama in 2012. A South Carolina conservative policy group, the Palmetto Family Council, has seized on this spotlight to communicate its top issues to the 2012 presidential contenders; issues the group has influenced in past state debates all while receiving federal money to aid their case.

Minnesota congresswoman and Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has been rocketing up polls in early primary and caucus states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge by The Family Leader, an Iowa-based religious right group. The 14-point pledge asks candidates to ban same-sex marriage, protect women and children from pornography and reject Islamic law. Signers also must promise to affirm that same-sex marriage is akin to polygamy and that having many children is good for America. The vow also insinuates that homosexuality is a choice, and that being gay or lesbian is a public health risk.

Presidential hopeful and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared to commit a large blunder Monday when, after she announced her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, she promised to “mimic the spirit of Waterloo’s own John Wayne.” However, according to The Washington Times, Bachmann misspoke because Waterloo’s John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.

When it comes to politics, there is no denying the pull of momentum. And while it is clear that for this eighth edition of our Power Rankings U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann owns it, there is also no denying that social and religious conservatives in the state still have choices to make.

Five Republican presidential contenders took part in a National Right to Life Convention forum Friday in Jacksonville. Only two (Herman Cain and Rick Santorum) appeared in person, while the other three (Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty) literally phoned it in — appearing at the panel via Skype.

GOP 2012 presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has decided to pass on the Iowa straw poll this summer, a warm-up event for the election-year Iowa caucuses, which increasingly have become a sort of warm-up event for the real primary campaigns. Romney's decision is making headlines as a risky move but the fact is non-incumbent winners of the GOP Iowa caucus don't win the GOP national nomination in any kind of consistent way. And the record of caucus winners is even less a predictor for success in the general election. As Romney knows and as the New York Times suggested Saturday, Iowa is now way too Christian right and Midwest parochial to serve as a barometer for Republican America.

Republicans won an historic number of Congressional seats in the midterm election just six months ago. Tonight Fox News is hosting the first 2012 GOP presidential primary election debate and it will feature something like the weakest early lineup of candidates in modern memory. Serious Republican strategists will be watching either in denial or in panic through fingers stretched across their eyes.

Last weekend Colorado Republicans huddled at their annual Centennial Dinner and took a presidential election straw poll. To their credit, perhaps, attendees at the party seemed as uninspired by the GOP candidate choices so far as does the rest of the nation. They liked Mitt Romney best, a safe choice. Runner up was not a safe choice. Maybe it was the late hour and the flowing champagne, but after Romney came Minnesota Congresswoman wingnut Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party U.S. history fan who announced she was contemplating a run at the White House the same day she put the battles of Lexington and Concord in New Hampshire instead of Massachusetts. Also strange is that Colorado Republicans also liked Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty. The former governor came in third in the poll. He was the first candidate to formally announce for president but few Americans outside of Minnesota and the Centennial Dinner crowd could pick him out of a line up.