Bachmann’s previous gaffes likely to haunt her

Over the past 24 hours, the Minnesota Congresswoman and Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann has become the most talked about person in American politics after officially announcing she will run for the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination.
 
Much of the excitement stems from a recent poll which placed her just behind current front-runner Mitt Romney.

The Des Moines Register Iowa poll – the first survey of voters who plan to attend the Republican caucuses when they open early next year – saw Bachmann win 22 per cent of the vote, just one point behind Romney, and well ahead of third-placed Herman Cain's 10 per cent.
 
But does Bachmann really have the stature and support to become the Republican candidate to face Obama in 2012?
 
Great start, but the hard work is to come. "Five years as a favourite of cable news and talk radio stations has given her the kind of name recognition more experienced politicians like Tim Pawlenty can only dream of," says Politico's James Hohmann. But to succeed in the White House race she has to "translate her stardom into a tangible on-the-ground organisation".

According to the Wall Street Journal's Patrick O'Connor and Neil King Jr, she has "advertised online... but her supporters haven't done many of the things necessary to capitalise on the appetite for her presidential bid".
 
Don't be fooled by the Palin comparison. "Whatever else you might think of her, Michele Bachmann is not a flake," writes New York magazine, referring to the accusation Fox News presenter Chris Wallace threw at the candidate during an interview this week. "Bachmann is, in fact, remarkably poised and canny about dialing her extremism up or down depending on the crowd."
 
Her intelligence – she is known as 'Sarah Palin with a brain' – is not the only point of difference between the two women, according to Huffington Post's Chris Weigant. "Bachmann took pains to point out that she not only was a lawyer, had a doctorate, and had done post-doctorate work at the prestigious college William and Mary; but that she also still held her job in the United States Congress - all terrain where Bachmann's credentials shine in direct comparison to Palin's."
 
Bachmann's support base could be split. Many commentators have been quick to point out that Bachmann's remarkable recent polling was only against declared candidates, not those big Tea Party names who remain undecided - Sarah Palin and Rick Perry.  These two candidates "could well fracture the Bachmann tea party coalition" if they decide to run, says the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.
 
Past gaffes will come back to haunt her. Bachmann gave a timely reminder on Monday that she has inherited one of the Republican party's most prominent recent faults: a weakness for making gaffes. She told an interviewer: "John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa [her home town]. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." John Wayne, the actor, was actually born over 100 miles away. John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer, however, did live in Waterloo.  
 
The HuffPost's Chris Weigant says: "The media has only scratched the surface of Bachmannisms uttered in the past few years, most especially her skating close to the edge of outright paranoia when it comes to all things Obama... If Bachmann truly is on the rise, look for these to become issues in the media very shortly." ·