Michele Bachmann’s Entire New Hampshire Staff Quits

Michele Bachmann is looking for a few good staffers for the Granite State.

Michele Bachmann is looking for a few good staffers for the Granite State.

Reuters (“Bachmann’s New Hampshire campaign staff quits“):

Staff members in New Hampshire for Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann have resigned en masse, a Republican familiar with the situation said on Friday, in a fresh blow to her 2012 hopes.

The Republican had few details, but news reports in New Hampshire said the resignations included her New Hampshire campaign manager, Jeff Chidester.

Bachmann, campaigning in Iowa, sowed some confusion by saying she was unaware of the resignations.

Manchester’s Union Leader newspaper said Chidester, a conservative activist and radio talk show host, left due to frustration with Bachmann’s national campaign, not with the candidate herself.

Bachmann has focused much of her efforts on Iowa, whose January 3 caucuses are the first U.S. nominating contest of the 2012 election cycle. Bachmann’s conservative message has a greater chance of achieving a breakthrough in Iowa, where social conservatives are a dominant voice.

Chidester also told the newspaper at least three other staffers — Tom Lukacz, Nicole Yurek and Caroline Gigler — had left with the same frustrations. He said he did not have direct knowledge of whether of Matt LeDuc had also left, as has been reported.

Gigler quickly signed up with the presidential campaign of Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Perry spokeswoman said.

Bachmann was briefly a top tier contender but is now in the low single digits. Certainly, events like this make a rebound seem more unlikely.

Despite past support for the likes of Pat Buchanan, it’s never been considered plausible that Bachmann would win here. Indeed, Romney’s the overwhelming favorite. Bachmann’s path to the nomination–and it’s now a decided longshot–begins and ends in Iowa. If she doesn’t win there, she’s toast. If she wins there, she gets a second wind and has to bank on South Carolina.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. The Florida Masochist says:

    First the staff quits. Then the……

    Tune back in no later than February 1st 2012.

  2. OzarkHillbilly says:

    I am only surprised that it took them this long to realize she is totally batsh*t crazy.

  3. Such things, to a great degree, have to do with money or prestige. I think most political professionals have been aware from the beginning that Michelle Bachman would never be President, so I would chalk it up to one of these 2 things (w/ no specific knowledge).