Palin, Bachmann eye each other

Palin And Bachmann Size Each Other Up With Videos
Politico: Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are nominally allies, two maverick Conservative Women who are among the GOP’s brightest stars. Telegenic pols with devoted followings, both appeal to the Tea Party faithful and would make strong runs at Evangelical Christians and social Conservatives in Iowa. They’re both favorite faces of Fox News, capable of raising huge amounts of money online. But despite - or perhaps because of - what they have in common, there are signs of tensions

Bachmann, Palin Coverage Playing Out Like a Bad 'Bridesmaids' Scene (The Atlantic Wire)
Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are both Republicans. They both have the support of Tea Partiers. They both have a gift for starting political flame wars. They both have large families. They both are female. They both have shiny brown hair. They both might run for president. Since they both have so much in common, they obviously hate each other. Right? Did you see Bridesmaids? There's a scene where the maid of honor (Kristen Wiig) and the wannabe maid of honor (Rose Byrne) battle to give ...

Michele Bachmann Says She's Had a 'Calling' to Run
ABC News' Russell Goldman reports: Rep. Michele Bachman says she is close to announcing a presidential run, and described her decision to seek the Republican nomination as a “calling.” “I've had that calling and that tugging on my heart that this is the right thing to do,” the Minnesota congresswoman said on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.” Part of that interview will air tonight on “World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer.” On Thursday, Bac

Bad Day For Bachmann
Campaigns have good days and bad days, but it's rare to have as bad a single day as Rep. Michele Bachmann suffered through yesterday. For breakfast, Sarah Palin's PAC announced the soon-to-be-former-Alaskan was making an appearance at the annual Rolling Thunder biker event in Washington on Memorial Day, and then launching a national bus tour. This came on the heels of the disclosure that Palin had commissioned a movie about herself that will debut in Iowa next month and then be shown in oth...

Michael J.W. Stickings: Palin on the Bus, Back in the Spotlight, Desperate for Attention
Answering the biggest question of the day -- "So is Sarah Palin running, or what?" -- I would note that signs are indeed pointing to YES. And the latest sign is that she's embarking on a pre-campaignish bus tour: In a move designed to propel her closer to a presidential run, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will set out on a bus tour of the country on Sunday, making stops at symbolic sites along the way. "Starting this weekend, Sarah Palin will embark on a 'One Nation' tour of historical site...

As Palin hits trail, some old fans wary
WASHINGTON — Alaska’s former Governor, Sarah Palin, is revving up a bus tour this weekend from Washington, D.C., north to the Granite State as a preamble to a possible Presidential Campaign, but elements of the Tea Party movement are not quite ready to jump on board. “I love her to death,’’ said Lori Ingham, a Palin fan and Tea Party sympathizer from Franklin, N.H., the critical early primary state Palin is expected to roll into next week. But Ingham is not encour...

Bachmann reveals June announcement details (The Ticket)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Thursday night revealed further details about her impending June campaign announcement, a new signal she's serious about entering the 2012 presidential race. Bachmann, who became a national Tea Party star during the 2010 election, told reporters during a phone Press Conference that she plans an "all-important announcement which will happen in the month of June, which I am pleased to tell you tonight will be made in Iowa. And I can also tell you that announcem...

Tea Party darlings: Michele Bachmann v Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin's recent publicity drive is a reminder that she is still a force to be reckoned with in the Republican party. But Michele Bachmann has established herself as the strongest female alternative. Here's how they match up:...

Bachmann has 'calling' to run
Source: POLITICO "Every decision that I make, I pray about, as does my husband," said the Minnesota congresswoman, according to radio broadcaster O. Kay Henderson. "And I can tell, yes, I've had that calling and that tugging on my heart that this is the right thing to do." The Iowa-born Bachmann is expected to appeal to Evangelical Christians, who have a heavy presence in the Republican primary process. Bachmann told Iowa voters on Thursday that she will announce her candidacy in her childhood ...

Sarah Palin tour fuels rumour she will run for office
Sarah Palin will embark on a bus tour along the East Coast of the US this weekend, fuelling speculation that a presidential push may be in the offing. It may look every part the start of a Presidential Campaign, but America is still none the wiser when it comes to Ms Palin's intentions for the 2012 election. To date, the smart money has been on Ms Palin not running for the Republican candidacy. Despite her popularity among the party's Grassroots, she remains a divisive figure and could alienate...

Karl Rove: Sarah Palin Thinks The Rules Don't Apply To Her (VIDEO)
Karl Rove said in an interview on Fox News Thursday night that Sarah Palin doesn't think the rules of Presidential Campaigns apply to her. "She doesn't need to have the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign -- no finance committee, she can raise the money, she doesn't need to go shake a lot of hands," Rove said. "Here's the thing. She gets to decide what the rules are to govern her campaign and go accordingly. Politics is changing. Some people have done things that have been outsid...

How to Divine Sarah Palin's 2012 Intentions from Her Bus Tour (The Atlantic Wire)
Sarah Palin is kicking off her totally-not-a-presidential-campaign-bus-tour of the East Coast Sunday with a stop at a veterans' motorcycle rally in Washington, D.C. After that, she's headed to historical sites up the coast with the goal of "reminding ourselves who we are and what Americans stand for." But those stops are, as of yet, unnamed! Like everything Palin does, every moment of her "One Nation" roadtrip will be scrutinized for clues as to what she's think...

Is Sarah Palin About to Pull a Donald Trump on the Republican Party? (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | There is a lot of media attention -- even a bit more than usual -- being expended on Sarah Palin at the moment. Along with coverage of some of her more recent comments and interviews, there was the release of the Frank Bailey tell all, news that a movie about her that will premiere next month was made in secrecy, and an announcement of a bus tour of historical sites on the East Coast would take place over the Memorial Day weekend. And with the flurry of media activity, like that...

Daily Palin Thread: Palin Announces Bus Tour; T-Paw Says Let's Stop Worrying About Bus Tours
She'll be taking a bus tour of the nation's historical sites, she says. Starting in Washington DC on Sunday, Mrs Palin, the former Alaska Governor and Senator John McCain’s vice-presidential Running Mate in 2008, will travel up through New England, “through our nation’s rich historical sites” in the coming weeks, she announced on her website. ... The trip, which will propel Mrs Palin back into the limelight after several months of relative anonymity, follows a number of other moves tha

Perry says he will consider White House run
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the longest-serving chief executive in the state's history and a politician who has never lost an election, said Friday he will consider seeking the Republican nomination for president. The outspoken conservative, who for months said he wasn't interested in running for the White House, said he will consider entering the race after the Texas Legislature adjourns Monday. "I'm going to think about it," Perry said. "I think about a lot of things." In th...

Palin welcome in Arizona neighborhood, media less so (Reuters)
SCOTTSDALE (Reuters) – Residents in this sprawling neighborhood of horse properties in far north Scottsdale welcome Sarah Palin as a potential neighbor, although they are mixed about the News Media on her trail. "I'm very happy that the house finally has someone living in it. it's been empty for a while, and it's nice to have a neighbor," said Monica Rahman, the owner of a busy stable across a dirt road from the manse the former Alaska Governor is reported to have b...

Palin welcome in Arizona neighborhood, media less so
By Tim Gaynor SCOTTSDALE | Fri May 27, 2011 9:27pm EDT SCOTTSDALE (Reuters) - Residents in this sprawling neighborhood of horse properties in far north Scottsdale welcome Sarah Palin as a potential neighbor, although they are mixed about the News Media on her trail. "I'm very happy that the house finally has someone living in it. it's been empty for a while, and it's nice to have a neighbor," said Monica Rahman, the owner of a busy stable across a dirt road from the manse the former Alaska g...

The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup For May 27, 2011
When the week began, political pundits were all a-twitter with the news that Mitch Daniels -- the guy who every conservative with a newspaper column had gravitated to for some reason as the person who would "save" the GOP primary field -- was not going to run in the 2012 primary. Probably because he thought David Brooks was creepy. But also because he didn't want his wife to be the focus of opposition researchers. And with that, many proclaimed the GOP field as being set. And there was, as yo...

Disaster: Rep. Michele Bachmann Skips Iowa Speech, Video-Phones It In
In what prominent Iowa Republicans are calling an “embarrassment” and a “disaster,” undeclared GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) canceled a keynote appearance at a Fundraiser, appearing instead via a “fuzzy Skype-style” video link. While some attendees were understanding, the Iowa Republican was brutal in their review of Bachmann’s appearance, and her chances in Iowa. (h/t C&L) Bachmann missed the event in order to vote on the ex...

For 2012 candidates, a holiday weekend in Iowa
(Credit: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images) Since everybody seems to be writing about Sarah Palin now, a few thoughts about Iowa - a state she will NOT be visiting on her much-covered bus tour. It's the conventional wisdom that this bus tour may also serve as a kick-off for Palin's Presidential Campaign. If so, she is heading in an odd direction, i.e., north from Washington instead of west toward the Hawkeye state. Iowa voters like to inspect candidates as closely as a Veterinarian does a horse. Out...

Is There Enough Room for Palin and Bachmann?
With Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) set to announce a presidential bid and Sarah Palin leaving signs that she is considering entering the race, Politico looks at how these two "two maverick Conservative Women... with devoted followings" might come into conflict on the Campaign Trail. "Already, their interests are coming into conflict as Palin makes moves designed to reclaim some of the media sparkle she's ceded to Bachmann during the spring... But each camp views the other with a level of suspici...

Sarah Palin Kicks Off Her East Coast Bus Tour Sunday (The Atlantic Wire)
Sarah Palin will begin touring the East Coast in a bus emblazoned with a giant Declaration of Independence Sunday, her first stop a veterans' motorcycle rally on Memorial Day in Washington, D.C. Palin's "One Nation" tour will go on to hit historical stops in New England, but her spokesman told National Journal's Lindsey Boerma that we should draw "no conclusions" about what the roadtrip says about Palin's presidential ambitions. Naturally, lots of people are...

The Fast Fix: Is Sarah Palin back? (The Fast Fix)
Is Sarah Palin returning to the national spotlight for a run at the GOP 2012 presidential nomination? Sarah Palin is back. Maybe. The former Alaska Governor had largely disappeared from the national political radar over the last few months. But, she's made plenty of headlines lately. She's embarking on a bus tour over Memorial Day weekend that will take her to historical locales all over the East Coast. She and her husband Todd have reportedly bought a $1.7 million home near Scottsdale, Arizon...

Marty Kaplan: If Bachmann and Palin Weren't Pretty
I wonder how much airtime Michele Bachmann would get if she didn't look the way she does. I wonder how much of Sara Palin's political appeal arises from her physical appeal. I have a feeling that wondering this will get me in hot water, but what the hell. I think Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is pretty. I think that Sarah Palin is pretty, too. I'm not saying they're smokin' hot babes. I'd reserve that for someone younger, like Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. If I were in my 20s, I suppose that h...

Michele Bachmann feels "calling" to run for president
Michele Bachmann speaks during a Tea Party rally at the State House, Monday, April 18, 2011 in Columbia, S.C. (Credit: Gerry Melendez,AP Photo/The State) Michele Bachmann on Friday said she felt a "calling" to run for president - a statement that seems to suggest she will follow through on her suggestion that she will announce a presidential bid in June. The Associated Press reports that Bachmann, during the taping of a program for Iowa Public Television, said she "had this calling and tug...