Michele Bachmann: The New Contender

The Contender? - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) - Minnesota

Michele Bachmann, it has been reported will form a presidential exploratory committee. We thought hoped this new was coming, and today it finally did. Before you discount her, realize that the landscape of politics is changing dramatically as we speak. The Libya issue is the tip of the iceberg and the country's needs, come 2012, are going to be more than just "anyone but Obama".

Politico.com explains:

There are likely candidates who are just as conservative as Bachmann (Rick Santorum) and others who have equally legitimate claims to outsider status (Herman Cain), but she may offer the most complete package for voters looking for an unapologetic anti-establishment Republican. The chair of the House’s Tea Party caucus, Bachmann has the right social conservative credentials—down-the-line on the issues, a foster mother of 23 and an Oral Roberts law grad—and is mostly pure on fiscal matters since she voted against TARP and now opposes earmarks after initially requesting them when she came to Congress.

The interesting thing will be to see how she and Palin co-exist on the same stage, should Palin throw her hat in. While neither are Catholic, I think that Catholics could easily support Bachmann as a candidate much the way they could support a candidate like Mike Pence.

What separates her from the pack is that, with the possible exception of Palin, she can speak to conservative activists like no other candidate. She knows how to grab their attention on cable TV, talk radio and the internet—and it’s not Paul Ryan-esque budget graph wonkery.

The question will be can she grab those disillusioned folk who don't identify with party politics and just want the America we all knew and loved back? She has flaws, as we all do, but that is actually what makes her stronger. She is up front about her flaws, and doesn't put band-aids over them. She learns from them, and uses them to keep her focused on her virtues and principles.

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There is something genuine and raw about her. There is a passion and an understanding for what we need as Americans and as a country that she addresses whenever she talks. She doesn't pretend, she just speaks from the heart. She isn't worried about making mistakes because she knows in her heart that she comes from a philosophical base of truth. It is that truth I think that is what shines through in her message. She has an authenticity that people crave, and quite frankly it is something we all need right now.

She is the real deal, and she is a major contender if not, the contender right now for the GOP nomination.

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