Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) recently said there's "a chance" she could decide to make a second bid for president in 2016.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks at Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority event in Washington, Friday, June 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
“The only thing that the media has speculated on is that it’s going to be various men that are running,” Bachmann told Real Clear Politics. “They haven’t speculated, for instance, that I’m going to run. What if I decide to run? And there’s a chance I could run.”
Interestingly, it was none other than the Washington Post laying out the case of why she should. A piece headlined, “Why Michele Bachmann Should Run for President in Two Charts,” came down to the fact that no other viable Republican woman seems interested in the presidency.
The Post pointed out that all of the speculation about top-tier GOP women, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, has been about becoming a vice presidential pick for the presidential nominee that emerges from a crowded field of male candidates.
The Post referred to a Gallup poll gaging how familiar the public is with various potential 2016 Republican aspirants such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. But Gallup didn't list any potential female candidates.
“Not a single women makes this list, proving Bachmann’s point,” the Post noted. “Reporters haven’t speculated about GOP women being in the top slot, though they have speculated not only about the men listed above, but long-shots like Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who is apparently being wooed by his party to run.”
That stands in stark contrast to prominent Democratic women Hillary Clinton, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
“So for Bachmann, who was on the only woman on stage in the gazillion 2012 GOP debates, there’s no reason she shouldn’t run in 2016," the Post noted. "If Texas Gov. Rick Perry can rehabilitate his oops image and run again, then perhaps Bachmann can do the same, helping to subtly change ideas about women and politics, and offering a conservative take on women’s issues.”
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