All she wanted was an autograph, says former Bachmann staffer

by T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol Reporter

Now that 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, has achieved national standing, it’s tempting to look at her career for signs that she was following a carefully planned script.

For instance, did Bachmann, in her celebrated 30-second grab of former President George Bush following his State of the Union Address in 2007, expect the episode to receive the massive media attention it generated?

Was it carefully preplanned and staged?

Former state senator Sean Nienow, R-Cambridge, who worked for the congresswoman for about a year, doesn’t think so.

Recently Nienow, when asked, said he believes all Bachmann was after that January day was the president’s autograph.

He has no doubt, Nienow went on, the congresswoman strategically placed herself as to be near the departing president.

But Bachmann was hoping to get a presidential autograph, not a media storm, Nienow opined.

Nienow frankly said that he was not in close communications with Bachmann during his year of service.

But Nienow did recall discussing the State of the Union Address flap with the congresswoman.

She thought the whole thing had been overdone, he recalled.