Michele Bachmann’s Iowa Chair Defects to Ron Paul
EmailOn what should have been a triumphant end to a whirlwind 99-county tour of Iowa, GOP contender Michele Bachmann on Wednesday suffered a series of blows to her campaign that began with dismal new poll numbers and ended with her state co-chair defecting to endorse frontrunner Ron Paul.
State Sen. Kent Sorenson, a tea party Republican who joined Bachmann’s campaign in its earliest days, announced Wednesday he would support Rep. Ron Paul, changing allegiances just six days before the first in the nation Iowa Caucuses. Sorenson said he switched candidates because Paul was “the most conservative of this group.”
Soon after Sorenson made his announcement, Bachmann accused him of being paid off by the Paul campaign to abandon her.
“Kent Sorensonpersonally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign. Kent campaigned with us earlier this afternoon and went immediately afterward to a Ron Paul event and announced he is changing teams. Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I,’ then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions,” Bachmann said in a statement.
Sorenson denied receiving any money following the announcement at a Paul rally in Des Moines. Sorensen said the race in Iowa has come down to a two man contest between Paul and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, and he didn’t want Romney to win.
“The fact is there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group,” Sorenson said in a statement. “The truth is it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign.”
Bachmann edged out Paul to win the Iowa Straw Poll last summer, but she has fallen precipitously as Paul’s star continues to climb. Bachmann, who appeared upbeat at the 10 campaign stops she made Wednesday, had a difficult day on the trail event before Sorenson defected.
A CNN poll released Wednesday put Bachmann in essentially last place, with nine percent of the vote, ahead only of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman who is not competing in Iowa. Bachmann brushed off the poll, calling it “one of many polls.”
“The biggest poll is going to be on Jan. 3,” she added.
Adding to the impression that Bachmann was no longer being considered a viable candidate, reports surfaced that leading Christian pastors had asked her and former Sen. Rick Santorum to exit the race, rather than split the conservative vote and open the door to a win by Mitt Romney.
At an event in Winterset, Iowa, Bachmann said “no one has approached me” to recommend dropping out. Bachmann on Wednesday ticked off her 95th county visited. She will finish the tour tomorrow in Des Moines.
White House Loves Aggressive Journalism ... Abroad 
Virginia Ultrasound Bill Hits Nerve
“Michelle Bachmann’s Iowa Chair Defects to Ron Paul”
HAHA!
Posted by: Harem Love | December 29, 2011, 2:35 am 2:35 am
Bachmann’s remarks seem desperate. Not surprising, as her tendency for factual inaccuracies runs far and wide. The debates would attest to that much.
The truth will ultimately out. It’s becoming apparent who the most conservative person in this campaign is, as Bachmann’s former co-chair seems to have realized.
Posted by: Gary Johnson | December 29, 2011, 2:39 am 2:39 am
Everytime MB opens her mouth she sounds just a little bit crazier than the day before. She scares the hell out of me.
Posted by: mgginva | December 29, 2011, 2:39 am 2:39 am
Ron Paul 2012!!!
Posted by: EJD | December 29, 2011, 5:16 am 5:16 am
Jumping ship to join Ron Paul’s campaign eh? Had to be for a good sum of money seeing Ron Paul has absolutely no chance in hell in being the GOP contender. Not only is he more senile than last time he ran, his whacko polcies have become much more dangerous! Legalizing cocaine and heroin is just one of many ideas this loon wants to push on America!! I can see it now, drug deaths out the kazoo! I’d hate to own something like that!
Posted by: Gunner_1959 | December 29, 2011, 7:22 am 7:22 am
It’s ok Michelle. This is just Gods way of telling you that you shouldn’t be left unsupervised with scissors.
Posted by: Frank Blourtango | December 29, 2011, 7:45 am 7:45 am
It’s pressing on everybody. Working on everyone with reason and a conscience. And the closer we come to the particular state and national election show times the more that ‘it’ presses and works on everyone.
Every four years since WWII the BIG one, the mega-squander of Orwellian war-is-peace foreign policy BS, comes up for renewal on the national ballot. That perpetual-warfare abroad and subsequent-perpetual debt at home are once again on the national ballot for yet another four-year renewal.
For myself and others who’ve long since decided to not renew the Orwellian mega-squander for another four years and vote instead for Paul, that last mile, last hundred yards, last few feet to the state caucus or primary precinct will be refreshing and invigorating — as are all labors undertaken with a clear conscience.
I suspect there will be many who pass through the fire of conscience on the way to their polling places. And end up voting for Paul. To reject the mega-squander. No pre-vote poll can measure it. Such will come to light afterwards.
Michelle Bachmann herself, an evangelical always claiming to hold the high moral ground, was a primary agent that framed the good-conscience issue when as a subtle serpent she whispered that Paul’s Founding-Father foreign policy was.. ‘dangerous.’ She actually cast herself out from the presence of good conscience.
Whisper, whisper, whisper. Watch as all the other slithering Bachmann types try to whisper against Paul and the Founding Fathers — and for the sake of Orwellian war-is-peace. And all it’s associated waste.
Posted by: dom youngross | December 29, 2011, 7:54 am 7:54 am
While I agree with much of what Michele Bachmann says and stands for it has become evident she has no chance of winning. Ron Paul has very little chance (to much establishment “liberals and conservatives” against him). If I can see this so can Michele’s co chair, I would probably desert a sinking ship. If he got a large sum of money to leave the sinking ship so much the better.
Posted by: karek40 | December 29, 2011, 8:16 am 8:16 am
If I were Ron Paul (gasp) I would worry about that cat’s loyalty. If he sold out on Michele Bachmann then he’ll probably sell out on Ron Paul.
Posted by: Jasonn | December 29, 2011, 8:29 am 8:29 am
As I have been saying
Before Iowa
Bachmann = dead woman walking
After Iowa
Bachmann = dead woman gone for good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: jester55 | December 29, 2011, 8:35 am 8:35 am
Michelle Bachman should drop out gracefully. This is the best she can do.
Posted by: Mr Howdy 2 u | December 29, 2011, 8:57 am 8:57 am
I, for one, look forward to seeing less of that rehearsed smile of hers.
Posted by: Christine | December 29, 2011, 9:02 am 9:02 am
I’ve lived in lots of states, most recently in Minnesota. For the life of me I never understood how she got elected to be anything. I find her an enormous embarrassment and the sooner this parade of fools ends the better. The fact she was a viable candidate for anything is shocking to me. The district she ‘serves’ has a mega church and is an ultra conservative pool of rich voters. hum maybe that’s why she won the first time over Patty Wetterling, a truly deserving person. Michelle make-it-up-as-you-go….. well PLEASE JUST GO!
Posted by: Jo in Minneapolis | December 29, 2011, 9:04 am 9:04 am
The news of the demise of Iowa voters common sense is highly exaggerated. The smear campaign against Dr. Ron Paul has only strengthened his support and electrified Americans. Iowa will prove that Dr. Paul is electable because he is the best Republican who can undo the damage done in the past decade. He is the only candidate that will be fiscally responsible to ensure that we do not continue to raise the debt ceiling due to the cancer of uncontrolled spending on wars, on foreign aid to so called allies who stab us in the back and people who do not take care of themselves but suck the nation’s very limited resources disproportionately. As for Bachmann she still has a job to do in congress, maybe run for governor and get some gray hair before returning for a presidential run. She is a feisty, energetic, articulate woman who can still become the first woman president in the future. But for now it is in the nation’s best interest for the GOP to elect a person whose time has come and who is selfless and most appropriate to resolve the financial mess that the country is in with fresh and forward looking ideas and that person is Dr. Paul.
Posted by: Girish | December 29, 2011, 9:25 am 9:25 am
Silly people thinking a caucus means anything. I lived in Iowa long ago and thought this was one of the dumbest of the political games. Caucus is a whole lot of nothing, that makes the candidates jump through hoops for what? A tiny little state that thinks paul or romney or gingich are electable to the country? LOL My vote is for PRESIDENT OBAMA 2012. bachmann is too much for the average person with a brain. She does appeal to zealots though.
Posted by: Jo in Minneapolis | December 29, 2011, 10:02 am 10:02 am
MB is the perfect candidate…for a psycho thriller! Those never blinking eyes of hers, that distant stare, those far-fetched, out-right lies she tells to get even, and the lengths she stoops to to be vindicated are all indigenous of her warped and unstable nature! Rick Santorum is the runner-up to MB as far as mental-cases go! Both of them give me the willies and to think…they’d both like to LEGISLATE that Americans be just like THEM is SCARY! Their god is NOT my God! Other “Christians” would do well to wake up and realize this too! RON PAUL 2012!!!
Posted by: jenny | December 29, 2011, 11:15 am 11:15 am
Ha ha – the person who lived in Iowa and moved to the BOOMING metropolis of Minneapolis is trying to look down his/her nose at Iowa and a liberal at that. How’s your state doing with progressive ideas like same-sex marriage? Face it, Iowa may not have the pulse of the nation, but we’re more cutting edge and progressive than Minnesooooooota. Glad you’re gone!
Posted by: Des Moines voter | December 29, 2011, 1:43 pm 1:43 pm
Looks like no one belived MB the thousand times she stated in the debates that she was “a serious candidate”. Plus she hates muslims. Good riddence.
Ron Paul 2012
Posted by: Ron Smith | December 29, 2011, 8:56 pm 8:56 pm
Michele Bachmann looks pathetic and like a sore loser. And either she’s a big liar or Sorenson is.
Posted by: Cristy | December 29, 2011, 9:07 pm 9:07 pm
Ron Paul is not running for State office, therefor, he is not trying to “legalize” drugs. He simply advocates returning the power of drug regulation to the States, as mandated by the Constitution.
When the Federal Government wanted to outlaw alcohol, they passed the 18th Ammendment to the Constitution, which gave them the authority to do so. Although later repealed, this was in fact Constitutional.
You lose all credibility, and therefor the debate, when you (rightfully) criticize Obamacare for being unconstitutional and then, in the next breath, call Ron Paul a “whacko” for wanting the Federal Government to return the power of drug regulations to the States.
I recommend maintaining the moral highground and not compromising on the Constitution. It is, after all, the law of the land and without it, we have anarchy (or worse, tyrrany).
Posted by: Disinterested Party | December 29, 2011, 9:51 pm 9:51 pm
If it is proven that Bachmann is lying about Kent Sorenson receiving money from the Paul campaign (and it probably will be), then her campaign is over.
Posted by: Matthew | December 29, 2011, 10:48 pm 10:48 pm
Since Michelle Bachman has stated that she is a Christian, I would love to know her opinion of 1 Timothy 2:12.
Posted by: Joe | December 30, 2011, 10:58 am 10:58 am