Bachmann encouraged by reaction in Iowa to explore 2012
8:42 PM, Jan 21, 2011 | by Tom Beaumont
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says the reactions she received in her Friday meetings with Iowa Republican leaders and conservative activists in the leadoff presidential caucus state have encouraged her to explore running for president.
“I am very encouraged by what I heard and the level of support that I saw today,” Bachmann told The Des Moines Register after a gauntlet of meetings in Des Moines.
Bachmann’s visit stirred up the quietly developing race for the 2012 Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa, a little more than a year away.
The third-term congresswoman from the Twin Cities suburb of Stillwater is an outspoken conservative often featured on Fox News Channel and a favorite of tea party activists.
Bachmann spoke Friday night at a reception for Iowans for Tax Relief, an influential advocacy and political group with roughly 55,000 conservative and Republican-leaning members across the state.
“It is not too late to change course and save this great nation,” Bachmann told her audience at a downtown Des Moines hotel. “I believe we can save America. I believe we can preserve this exceptional nation — this land of promise — for our children and grandchildren.”
In her 40-minute speech to about 250 activists, Bachmann warned that the federal government spent too much and expanded its reach, referring to the bailout of the banking and auto industries, to the point that future generations’ prosperity was at risk.
“The iceberg is straight in front of us. We can all see this iceberg,” Bachmann said. “And we like fools are pointing the ship directly into it.”
Bachmann described her Iowa roots as a Waterloo native and the descendent of Norwegian immigrants.
While she gave no indication what her political future might hold, her speech had a campaign tone in the appeal she issued as a native Iowan.
“It is in your hands, Iowans, that this question will be decided,” Bachmann said, referring to the 2012 presidential nomination. “You will be the ones who decide. And that is why I am so excited, because I feel like I know you, because I was born here. I was raised here. These are my values. I feel like we understand each other, and I trust you with that decision.”
Lori and Kevin Arp of Clive said they hope Bachmann runs. The couple supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in his winning 2008 caucus campaign.
“She’s a very dynamic speaker, and has a lot of good ideas,” Lori Arp said.
“I’m just afraid five or six will be running with the same profile,” Kevin Arp said, arguing too many similar candidates could allow a more moderate candidate to emerge as the front-runner.
It was Bachmann’s first visit to Iowa since Jan.7, when she publicly expressed interest in running for president. She held closed-door meetings with top Republicans on Friday and dived into the retail politics the caucuses are famous for encouraging.
Bachmann waded through an audience of about 50 Republican and tea party activists at Smokey Row, a coffeehouse in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood, before giving a short speech and taking questions.
“We’ve got this tiny window of opportunity,” Bachmann told the group, referring to the new U.S. House Republican majority’s chance to act on the priorities of tea party supporters. “And the tea party patriots are saying, ‘We have to take our country back.’”
After the gathering, Bachmann worked the crowd, posing with her husband, Marcus, for photographs and cheerfully greeting Kathy Carley of Altoona, wife of tea party organizer Jim Carley.
Kathy Carley said she was impressed.
“She’s not afraid to speak her values,” Carley said, comparing Bachmann to Iowa Rep. Steve King. “And I like the values she stands for. They represent Iowa and the grass roots of America.”
Bachmann also met with heavyweight issue advocates and party officials, including Iowans for Tax Relief President Ed Failor Jr.
Sitting at a round table in the near-east-side office, Failor and Bachmann went quickly from first introductions to the opportunity conservatives have, in light of Republicans’ capturing the U.S. House in November.
“We’ve got to stay on message. We showed what we can do when we turn out across the country,” Bachmann said.
“But we have lost the grip on the brand,” Failor added, referring to Republicans who had strayed from spending discipline. “You actually have to do stuff that matters now.”
“That’s why the debt ceiling will be the big test,” Bachmann replied. House Republicans are divided over upcoming legislation to raise the debt ceiling, legislation Bachmann opposes.
She spent two hours at the Iowa Capitol, moving from closed meeting to closed meeting with Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley and freshman Sen. Kent Sorenson, who is popular with tea party supporters. She also met with state Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn at GOP headquarters, not far from the Capitol.
Branstad said his meeting with Bachmann did not include discussion of a potential caucus run.
“We didn’t talk about that at all,” Branstad told reporters later, echoing Paulsen and others familiar with Bachmann’s Statehouse sessions.
The 2012 campaign in Iowa so far has been mostly below the radar. Potential candidates and their aides have been in touch with Iowa GOP activists, and some have begun reaching out to potential staff. However, no one has announced a candidacy.
Bachmann said she is not feeling pressed to decide quickly whether to run for president, although some operatives have been contacted about potential staff work for her in Iowa.
“I feel no pressure about a time frame,” she said.
She plans to return in April to participate in a series of lectures for presidential candidate prospects being put on by a social conservative group. Iowa party leaders have also said they plan to have Bachmann back for an event in coming months, a sign some of them say suggests she will run for president.
“I think she’s running,” said Iowa Tea Party Chairman Ryan Rhodes, who was in the audience at the coffee shop event. “And that’s going to force other candidates to decide.”
Tags: Iowa caucuses, Iowans for Tax Relief, michele bachmann, Mike Huckabee, Terry Branstad
