She pulled her name out of the Values Voters presidential straw poll this weekend.
The Values Voters presidential straw poll is one of the places where the activists of the evangelical right highlight their presidential preferences. If you don't think that what they think matters--you're not paying attention to what you should be paying attention to. These activists work for a kind of stealth, extremist "third party" that dwarfs the high-profile tea party and can stop Republican presidential candidacies.
Bachmann went over like a titan at this event. (see video.) It seems clear that she would have swamped other names in the presidential straw poll. So why did she pull her name out?
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The Minneapolis Star Tribune speculates that she pulled out because she didn't want to give her Dem opponent ammunition. Bachmann opponent Tarryl Clark has been charging that Bachmann's more interested in priming her national ambitions that representing her district. (This is true.)
So it wouldn't help Bachmann on this score to be named as an overwhelming favorite of the national evangelical right for the White House; it would only confirm constituent fears that Bachmann's focused on herself, not the district. That's what the Strib thinks, anyway:
By JEREMY HERB, Star Tribune
Last update: September 17, 2010 - 8:30 PM
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann ended a brief flirtation with presidential politics on Friday by removing her name from the 2012 presidential straw poll at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.
The decision came amid attacks from her Democratic challenger, state Sen. Tarryl Clark, who accused Bachmann of pursuing national ambitions and turning her back on the Sixth Congressional District that she's represented for two terms.
Bachmann's spokesman, Sergio Gor, said Bachmann's name was taken off the ballot because "she's running to represent the Sixth District. That's her No. 1 focus right now, her No. 1 goal. She's not running for president."
http://www.startribune.com/...
I had expected Huckabee and Bachmann to finish "top two" in Values Voters, which would significantly improve their chances of appearing on a GOP White House ticket in two years. But minus Bachmann, here's how the Values Voters group rated candidates. The big surprise here is that Huckabee (the kinder and more famous face of evang right politicians) finished second to Congressman Mike Pence (the meaner but less famous face.)
Pence Surprise Winner of Values Voter Straw Poll
by Caroline Shively | September 18, 2010
Representative Mike Pence, R-In. is the big winner in the 2010 Values Voter Summit Presidential Straw Poll at this year's meeting with former Governor Mike Huckabee, R-Ar, coming in second, followed by former GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin.
"Congressman Pence gave an outstanding speech... but he is also been providing, some very crucial leadership which has been more visible among social conservatives and conservatives. In general, I think I just attribute it to Congressman Pence's ability to communicate a very strong conservative message," said Tony Perkins, the President of the Family Research Council on Pence's win.
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/...
Finally: if you've never been to the Values Voters summit--YOU ARE IN LUCK! Here's the video, free, on line at C-SPAN--and if you drink a pint of grain alcohol and turn up the volume while you're watching this--IT'S LIKE YOU'RE THERE, MAN!
This is not your ordinary C-SPAN political event. The afternoon conference opens with an original folk-rock song tribute to Jesus by some guy with a lot of product in his hair from a Christian band called Sonic Flood. (Sonic Flood is probably a big name in the billion dollar Christian music industry, but I don't follow these things.) Anyway, the song goes on for about five hundred years and is received with only tepid applause--
--but then they go right into a prayer for a new religious revival in the United States, then a plug for the band Sonic Flood again, and then a tribute to the Heritage Foundation. (YES, that's right: you didn't know it, but this is "all one big conservative thing," not, as the media would have you believe, "a bunch of independent little conservative things.") Then Rick Santorum enters to a standing ovation...he's "over," but the heavy hitters are still to come...
Then you got to move the little cursor thingie at the bottom...at 1:31 you get to see Christine O'Donnell addressing the evangelical right. Lots of press on her as a crazy right winger these days, but the rock solid support of the evang right gets no play in the media accounts.
At around 2:28, you can see Amy Kremer and a bunch of other Tea Party figures addressing the religious right. Yeah, yeah, I know: people keep telling you that the Tea Party is independent of the evang right, the articles on the tea party you're reading in the political journals aren't mentioning the role of the evang right in the tea party--so this, what you're seeing on the screen here, cannot be happening, Frank Rich and Paul Krugman didn't report it, so what you're seeing is not really happening. "Don't stop believin'" suckers.
http://cspan.org/...
Now: what if you want to skip all this bullshit and go straight to Bachmann? For that, you have to go to the MORNING portion of the program and move the little cursor thingie at the bottom about two hours into the video:
She receives a glowing introduction and then speaks after 1:58:30
Compare Bachmann's audience reception and the reaction to her name--to the reception of the other performers and speakers you saw in this video. Learn, learn, learn...
http://cspan.org/...
ACTION LINK: It's not just my Sixth District, it's the United States that's in play. Try your best to stop her now.
http://tarrylclark.com