The Best News Evah In The History of Everything

Ken AshfordElection 2012Leave a Comment

Michelle Bachmann is putting together an exploratory committee to decide if she should run for president in 2012.

Which usually means, she's running for president in 2012.

Politics might actaully become funny again.

Steve Benen's more serious take:

It's probably fair to say that most reasonable political observers, regardless of party or ideology, would agree that Michele Bachmann is stark raving mad. I don't mean this is a name-calling sense, I mean it objectively — her record of truly insane rants and conspiracy theories makes Bachmann an embarrassment to herself and the institution she serves. There's just something deeply wrong with this person.

Bachmann's odds of becoming leader of the free world next year are about as good as mine. But that doesn't mean her candidacy, if it exists, won't matter.

For one thing, Bachmann is so boldly ridiculous, she's bound to generate quite a bit of attention for herself, which could have a real impact on the race. There's only so much media oxygen available for a sizable presidential field, and if Bachmann's clownish antics capture catch reporters' attention, lesser-known candidates like Pawlenty and Daniels may find themselves struggling to stay in the spotlight.

For another, Bachmann could prove competitive in Iowa, where radically-conservative activists tend to dominate. (Remember, in 1988, radical televangelist Pat Robertson came in second place in the Iowa caucuses, well ahead of the eventual president, George H.W. Bush.)