Bachmann has friends in the right places
by T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
It’s good to have friends, and if you’re running for president it’s good to have friends in Iowa.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has them.
One high-profile friend is Iowa Republican Fifth Congressional District Congressman Steve King, a lawmaker like Bachmann often seen on
Iowa Congressman Steve King.
Fox News and one with clout among Iowa Tea Party members.
King hasn’t endorsed Bachmann for president — he won’t endorse anyone prior to Labor Day, he explained — but just recently Bachmann joined King on an aerial survey of flood damage in western Iowa and nearby states and Bachmann and King have linked political fortunes in Washington.
King, now serving his fifth term in the U.S. House, spoke of getting to know Bachmann during her freshmen term in 2006 when he asked her to speak on the House floor on an issue of importance to him.
Bachmann told King she wasn’t that familiar with the topic, King explained.
He thought she might say “No.”
“Instead she said,’Okay,’” said King.
Bachmann left — King assumed she was boning up on the issue on the Internet — and 15 minutes later returned to speak.
“She got everything exactly right,” said King.
Beyond this, Bachmann, the novice, knew exactly which direction to turn on the floor as to face the C-Span camera and the largest audience.
She has “tremendous situational awareness instantly,” said King.
Bachmann’s a quick learner, has good political instincts, connects well with the public, and is a “very close personal friend,” said King.
King views Bachmann’s support in Iowa cutting across evangelicals, charter school advocates, fiscal conservatives, others.
Her star with evangelicals was brightened when former Republican Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a former evangelical favorite, decided not to run again for president, King explained.
Congesswoman Michele Bachmann waves to Iowans after a speech some weeks ago in Waterloo. Bachmann is expected to do well in the Iowa straw poll in Ames on Aug. 13. (Photo by T.W. Budig)
Bachmann is a native Iowan — something the congresswoman has repeatedly stressed in recent weeks — but King views the congresswoman’s Iowa roots as politically extending so far.
It’s more of “a conversation starter” in Iowa than anything else, he explained.
As for a potential King endorsement, Drake University political science professor Rachel Caufield believes a King endorsement of Bachmann for president could help her with the Iowa Tea Party crowd.
Bachmann has been portrayed as the darling of the Tea Party movement and certainly she has support in Iowa.
“A lot of (Tea Party) people are leaning towards Michele Bachmann,” said Ryan Rhodes, a high-profile Iowa Tea Party activist.
(Former Republican governor Tim Pawlenty has a level of support too, but to a lesser degree, explained Rhodes.)
Iowa Tea Party activist are hoping for the movement to cut a bigger swath in the state’s elective politics.
Recently some traveled the state, trying to seed the grassroots movement.
“It went incredibly well,” said Rhodes.
About a thousand Iowans received training in activism, Rhodes explained.
Some 1500 computer discs were distributed on political involvement, he said.
The size of the Iowa Tea Party movement is “very large,” said Rhodes.
But he offered no numbers.
Rhodes expects Tea Party members to be active in the Iowa presidential caucuses.
One thing Tea Party activist like about Bachmann is her self-proclaimed status as a “constitutional conservative.”
“I believe our founders knew what they were doing when they designed a limited government with specific, enumerated powers. I’m also convinced that many of our problems result from the federal government’s insatiable — and unconstitutional — grab for power and money,” wrote Bachmann in a recent essay on her constitutional principles.
Some Tea Party members view Republicans as well as Democrats as guilty of overstepping constitutional boundaries.
“That’s why there’s a Tea Party movement,” said Rhodes.
Tea Party support for Bachmann crosses state lines.
“She understands history,” said Mary Amlaw, a Twin Cities’ north metro Tea Party activist and author, of Bachmann’s constitutional conservative principles.
“We like Michele Bachmann,” she said.
Amlaw indicated she’s comfortable with Bachmann calling herself a constitutional conservative.
Bachmann is expected to do well in the Iowa straw poll in Ames on Aug. 13.
