...according to a poll of Republican voters by Gallup/USA.
(Caveat: I don't believe in Gallup. To me, Gallup is the voice of the "I kinda wanna make the world more Republican" polling. If the people who run Gallup privately determined that Bachmann shouldn't represent the GOP on a White House ticket, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that Gallup massaged the polling to tell the public that Bachmann is unelectable. That's how conspiracy minded I am.)
But I do think that the poll does reflect an independent reality: a crash in Republican popular support for a Bachmann candidacy. I do think that's real, even though I know her off-the-record opponents are working to create that crash.
Her off-the-record Republican opponents are working hard to convince Republicans that she's unstable, or at lease unelectable. You have these remarks, being circulated by former Bachmann staffers...
(CONTINUED)
...in a story by the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/...
... and when her former GOP staffers feel free to denounce her, ahem, eccentricities--you can be pretty sure that the GOP careerists are being encouraged to "do her in."
Besides: we've got all these comments this year from GOP congresspeople about how unfit Bachmann is for office. These comments from congresspeople are strictly anonymous. Because even if her prez bid implodes--Bachmann will still be on the Hill, and will still be a strong influence on congressional policy. A prez fail doesn't necessarily stop her demagogic politicking.
The low poll numbers mean something, in an environment where "the big money" from GOP backers goes to the contender with the high poll numbers. That can shut her down completely, the poll fail that ends access to the big money necessary to remain a contender.
But Bachmann supporters continue to run anti-Rick Perry ads--as if destroying Perry's reputation with the teabagging nuts and Christian right, will bring these constituencies back into the Bachmann fold.
In the meantime, I'm looking for the Perry ads against Bachmann. Apparently he thinks (like most people) that Bachmann's already toast and she's not worth spending resources on. Apparently he doesn't care if she's dissed or not.
If Bachmann survives as the kind of force she's been in Congress for the past few years...
..rallying the tea party element to come out for midterms,
...regularly appearing on conservative broadcasting to terrorize audience about the liberal menace,
...raising big money from the yahoos on the basis of her name alone,
...distributing that mone to favored colleagues, ...criticizing Republican leaders for not being "truly conservative" or wanting to moderate,
...constantly pressuring her colleagues to move further to the right)
--well, if she continued to do what she's been doing for the next few years...she'd be a useful ally in Congress--for President Rick Perry.
Here's the piece on the Gallup poll...
http://www.csmonitor.com/...