The Iowa caucuses are perhaps better known as a contest that culls certain losers from a field of candidates than one that anoints the winner. But this year, the only casualty of the first big electoral test of the primary season — besides the hours of sleep we lost waiting for Clinton County’s returns to come in and whatever sense of dignity CNN’s election team began the night with — was Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who finished the night with only five percent of the vote. (The other poor finisher of the night, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has opted to remain in the contest, presumably through the South Carolina primary.)
When Bachmann entered the race, she worked hard to establish herself as a candidate with serious presidential bona fides. She was a congressional Tea Party leader. A tax litigation lawyer. A member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mother to an often indeterminate number of children. More importantly, she cast herself as the “tip of the spear” in the fight against everything about the Obama administration that bedeviled the GOP, most notably the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.
Along the way, she distinguished herself with a colorfully loose grasp of historical facts and a tendency toward the hyperbolic. But on August 13, 2011, Bachmann notched a career milestone, becoming the first woman to ever win the Ames Straw Poll. She received 4,823 of the 16,892 votes, just pipping Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at the post.
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