The answer, apparently, is more town halls.
Michele Bachmann has gone from presidential "contender" (yeah, we're just gonna put some quotes around that one) to being in serious jeopardy of losing even her current House seat. That's not entirely surprising, of course: Even though she's in a deep-red district, she's been nearly booted a few times, and her recent race against Democrat Jim Graves turned out to be a squeaker. Then there's her presidential campaign being investigated by the FEC and FBI. Oh, and the bit where she keeps saying crackpot things and being a general embarrassment to her own party.
What's a bit different is that Bachmann seems to be keenly aware of how much difficulty she's already in. Which means her constituents are going to start seeing her a lot more often:
Bachmann declined to be interviewed for this story. Kotman, her spokesman, said: “It’s 18 months out, and she isn’t focused on the campaign. She’s focused on the district.” […]
Bachmann recently began running TV commercials highlighting her role in sponsoring legislation to repeal Obama’s health care bill — an unusually early time in the election season to start airing ads. And Republicans say they’re assured by the congresswoman’s busy in-district schedule — as of late, she seems more focused on holding town halls than on making headlines.
“She is working harder in the district than she has in the past,” said Ron Carey, a former Bachmann chief of staff. “It’s going to be harder to make the case that she’s an AWOL congresswoman.”
There's nothing that shows you're "focused on your district" more than cutting television ads highlighting yourself and your quixotic obsession with holding dozens and dozens of meaningless votes to repeal ObamaCare. She's a true saint, that one. (Oh, and her office has also
already produced an anti-Graves, anti-Nancy Pelosi web video. Again, though, not focused on campaigning. Shame on you for thinking so.) Still, having your constituents hear
more from you is a bit of a risky move, for far-right Republicans like Bachmann; the entire 2012 election season was ample enough evidence of that.
Having her constituents actually boot her should still be considered an uphill climb. It's at least a bit interesting, though, that her office seems already to be in a bit of panic.