The Minnesota congresswoman smacks T-Paw as a health care squish. This type of thing will provide an entertaining GOP primary subplot, as the two Minnesotans vie for conservative Iowa voters in a battle that could make or break Pawlenty’s candidacy. Bachmann will have the luxury of being a theatrical firebrand, whereas Pawlenty needs to make an electability case even as he tries to win over conservatives.
Here’s Bachmann making the case for herself last night on Fox News, where she told Sean Hannity she’d be making an announcement about her presidential intentions from Waterloo, Iowa, sometime “very soon”:
I think the strongest competitor right now is Barack Obama. That’s the only competitor that I’m looking at right now. And I think, I come up very favorably. I have a strong background, I started a successful company and ran that together with my husband. We created jobs. We’ve been very successful. And I’m a former federal tax litigation attorney. I understand the tax code. We created a charter school, we started it, it has been very successful. We raised 23 foster children. I have a wide berth of experience. And I think what I want to focus on is making things in America again. And American job creation. So, I think I have a very favorable comparison with Barack Obama.