COMMENTARY | You cannot blame Rep. Michele Bachmann for having a never-say-die attitude but her denial of the status of her presidential campaign has become down-right sad. She’s been all but written off by the media except as 2012 campaign comedy relief from all the flip-flop accusations and the continuing soap opera that has become Herman Cain’s lot. That being said, she did not disappoint when she was recently asked who would be her pick for vice president if she were to win the Republican nomination. Among several people she named were Donald Trump and Rick Santorum.
With her numbers polling steadily below five percent of the Republican electorate, it is doubtful Bachmann will get anywhere near winning the 2012 GOP nomination. But a woman can dream, can she not? According to CNN, the Minnesota congresswoman was ready with some names when asked, dropping fellow candidate Rick Santorum as a possible, along with business mogul Donald Trump, and GOP senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Why not Rick Perry? Too much akin to her own views so as not to pull in enough of a demographic cross-section? Of course, the same argument could be made as to why Santorum shouldn’t be considered. You want your running mate to appeal to a wider or to a different set of demographics if possible. In that case, her best pick would probably be former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. But it appears that Romney has become a GOP undesirable, his political baggage prominently stamped by the Massachusetts health care system he helped set up.
Besides, Santorum, known as much for his far-right radical positions as Bachmann, can’t seem to get out of the lower single digits, either, in the national polls.
But Donald Trump?
“We’ve got a lot of wonderful candidates who would fit that bill,” Bachmann said. “Easily comes to mind I think would be Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Marco Rubio of Florida certainly would be in that category. There’s a lot of great people out there. And Donald Trump is someone that I think a lot of people would be intrigued with, too.”
Rubio is a freshman congressman and might help with the Hispanic vote and Florida, but that’s about it, although his star seems to be on the ascendant. DeMint is a powerful Senator and holds a lot of sway in the South. As for Trump, well…
Back when Donald Trump was making noise about running for president and rising high enough in the polls to contest for the lead, a Gallup Poll issued at the end of April indicated that 64 percent of American registered voters would not vote for him, although his numbers were somewhat better among Republicans. It probably didn’t help that he affixed himself to the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theory…
CNN reported that Bachmann has met with Trump four times in recent months.
But that’s who Michele Bachmann says she would pick for her running mate. And she expects to be elected president?
Perhaps the question should be asked: Would any of the other candidates choose her?