Oh, the horrors! Michele Bachmann is apparently about to end her presidential campaign with a press conference slated to begin at 10 AM CT. We'll provide updates here as they happen. Join the conversation below, and if you'd like to watch along, here's a live video feed:
7:57 AM PT:
8:02 AM PT: The angle of the podium and the backdrop seems a bit off. I wonder if Bachmann will be able to point her head and her eyes in the same direction or if we'll have a replay of her State of the Union response.
8:05 AM PT: Kelly O'Donnell says Michele Bachmann will go back to being in the "anti-President Obama movement." In other words, she'll continue to be a Republican.
8:06 AM PT: Okay, this thing better start soon. It's one thing to be late when there's actual suspense involved. But the only suspense here is that she's suspending the campaign. So why the delay?
8:11 AM PT: Looks like things will be getting underway in a minute or two, according to MSNBC at least.
8:14 AM PT: Okay, now MSNBC says Bachmann is just now arriving at the venue where her announcement is going to be made. If she doesn't start soon, I'm just going to start making stuff up and I'm going to say she said it.
8:17 AM PT: Michele Bachmann takes the stage and the first thing she says is how proud she is that she got more votes in the Iowa caucuses than in the Iowa straw poll. "We built on a strong start," she says. (Yes, I made that up.)
8:18 AM PT: Michele Bachmann apologizes for being late. She says she's just now learning that Central Time is only one hour behind Eastern Time. She had gotten it confused with Mountain Time. Apparently, Bachmann also plans an apology to the residents of Lexington and the family of the real John Wayne. And she will remind us that she is a serious person.
8:19 AM PT: Big question: will she come on stage with a corn dog? Will Marcus?
8:21 AM PT: Whoa—Rick Perry might not be quitting the campaign. Much bigger news than Bachmann.
8:23 AM PT: Bachmann just started speaking but I don't care what she's saying, because Rick Perry's twitter feed suggests he's still in the race. She's muttering about Founding Fathers and Great Clouds, but
8:24 AM PT: Michele Bachmann talks about how Obamacare really pissed off Ben Franklin, or something like that, because Obamacare "endangered the very survival of the United States." Holy crap, she's a nutjob.
8:26 AM PT: You know, that photo of Perry linked to from his Palmetto state Tweet, I wonder if it's a hoax—if somebody didn't hack his account. Check out the pic.
8:28 AM PT: Michele Bachmann reminds us why she is running—her belief that Obama is an extraterrestrial socialist. Michele, we already knew you were batshit. Thanks for the constant reminder, I guess.
8:30 AM PT: Bachmann is still blathering ("I have decided to stand aside") but to clarify my 8:26AM update, I meant the photo linked to by Perry was such a bad photo that I wondered if it wasn't a hoax.
8:33 AM PT: Michele thanked some of her children by name...but not all of them. And she says what she's doing now is cooperating with God's plan. And then she and Marcus kiss. And mercifully this is over. Goodbye Michele!
8:35 AM PT: It's not a hoax—it's just a bad picture. Perry is back in.
8:36 AM PT: Perry getting back in is probably good news for Mitt Romney's divide and conquer strategy...but Perry has demonstrated more fundraising ability than Rick Santorum, so Romney should be a little careful what he wishes for.