Michele Bachmann may have crashed and burned in her bid to win the GOP nomination last year, but the Minnesota congresswoman isn’t quite ready to leave the national spotlight.
Though she is still battling allegations of election finance fraud and allegations that her campaign tried to bribe a GOP official in Iowa, Bachmann is trying to keep her status as the leader of the GOP charge against Barack Obama.
This week Michele Bachmann sponsored a bill that would repeal ObamaCare. She also provided a forum for tea party groups to air grievances against the Internal Revenue Service, which was found to have added undue scrutiny to these conservative organizations.
The scandal that erupted after the IRS allegations came to light is right in the political sweet spot for Bachmann, a tea party darling and leader of the House Tea Party Caucus.
Despite near-constant scorn from the left, Bachmann has handled the opposition deftly and been able to maintain her important part in the GOP.
Democrats are also happy that Michele Bachmann is remaining on the national stage. Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist, said her views are “so far out of the mainstream” that it can only help Democrats by comparison.
The ongoing investigation into Bachmann’s campaign also casts a pall over a potential comeback. And in addition, congressional ethics investigators are also examining whether Michele Bachmann campaign staffers played an improper role in her 2011 book tour promoting her memoir, Core of Conviction.