MICHELE? – AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  No, I don't mean the one in the White House.  I'm referring to Michele Bachmann (one "l"), Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, who seems increasingly serious about running for president in 2012.  And she's being taken increasingly seriously, at least in the conservative base of the Republican Party.  Can she be a factor – nominee, kingmaker, troublemaker?  The Hill has a well-reported story:

The vacuum created by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R) absence from the 2012 campaign trail presents a major opportunity for the woman she once hinted might share a presidential ticket with her: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

With strategists and conservative activists increasingly convinced that Palin won’t make a run for the White House next year, she is losing some clout among her contingent of grassroots devotees who are eager to hit the 2012 campaign trail and rally behind an alternative to President Obama.

Bachmann, who is mulling a 2012 run, is the most obvious choice to supplant Palin in next year’s presidential contest. The Minnesota Republican is positioning herself to take up the anti-establishment mantle that vaulted Palin to Tea Party stardom.

And polls reflect Bachmann’s growing cachet. The three-term lawmaker came in second in last week’s Gallup poll that measured GOP voters’ level of intensity about the 2012 hopefuls. Palin was sixth. The poll also found that Palin had a higher unfavorable rating, 8 percent, than Bachmann, who had a 4 percent disapproval rate.

COMMENT:  I have mixed feelings about this.  Bachmann is a crowd rouser, like Palin, and does her homework on the issues.  She's a lawyer who did post-graduate academic work in law.  However, she's very junior, and tends to be gaffe-prone.  Now, Obama is gaffe-prone as well, but, in the gaffe department, only Republicans get nailed by the media.  Dems get a pass. 

Bachmann will certainly draw a great deal of attention if she runs.  But, at this stage in her career, she's widely viewed as a lightweight, and someone who would have trouble bringing in the independents who are critical to a GOP victory in 2012.  She'd make the race more interesting.  She'd also draw attention away from those more likely to succeed at getting the nomination.  This is a potential candidacy that clearly cuts both ways.

Read the story.  Interesting stuff.  The 2012 election is right around the corner.

April 5, 2011