Salon: Just how high can Michele Bachmann fly? She still "flunks the Pat Robertson test."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 21:01 ET

War Room

Just how high can Michele Bachmann fly?

She's better at playing this game than many of us thought. But she still flunks the Pat Robertson test

By Steve Kornacki



http://www.salon.com/news/2012_elections/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/06/15/bachmann_chances_winning

The Minnesota congresswoman capitalized on a very low bar, turning in a glib and confident performance that defied the popular media caricature of her as an unhinged, bug-eyed lunatic, and stood out enough to convince even some skeptics that she could be a serious player in next year's race.

Yes, Bachmann demonstrated on Monday that she has the potential to make serious inroads with grass-roots conservatives -- particularly Christian conservatives. If the debate was any indication, she's better at communicating with these voters than any of the other ideological candidates on the GOP side (like Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich). She's also adept at raising money (she took in $13 million for her 2008 reelection effort).

It's a long way from here until the primaries and caucuses actually begin, but if she can keep this up, Bachmann could very well end up winning (or coming close to winning) Iowa, where Christian conservatives comprise a particularly crucial chunk of the electorate. Iowa, after all, is where Pat Robertson finished in second place -- beating out a sitting vice president, George H.W. Bush -- in 1988 and where Mike Huckabee posted a 9-point victory in 2008. But the Robertson and Huckabee examples are instructive, because they faced the same two obstacles coming out of Iowa -- obstacles that Bachmann would face as well.

It's a long way from here until the primaries and caucuses actually begin, but if she can keep this up, Bachmann could very well end up winning (or coming close to winning) Iowa, where Christian conservatives comprise a particularly crucial chunk of the electorate. Iowa, after all, is where Pat Robertson finished in second place -- beating out a sitting vice president, George H.W. Bush -- in 1988 and where Mike Huckabee posted a 9-point victory in 2008. But the Robertson and Huckabee examples are instructive, because they faced the same two obstacles coming out of Iowa -- obstacles that Bachmann would face as well.