Enter
presidential run? You can make
the argument, because Bachmann
is being driven into retirement by
a “range of allegations related to
Bachmann’s failed presidential campaign, including charges that she
improperly used campaign funds
to promote her book, that her campaign ‘launder[ed]’ money, and that
one of her staffers stole an email list
from a home-school organization,”
as Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald reported.
So, sure, she’d be in better shape if
she’d not run for president, potentially, but I sort of think the larger
lesson here isn’t so much “think
twice before running for president”
as much as it is “don’t improperly
use campaign funds or launder
money or steal email lists.”
In reality, however, Bachmann
will be dining out on her brief
presidential bid for a long time,
because running for president is
often enough to catapult a person
into the political celebritysphere.
The speaking fees that Bachmann
will be able to command alone
make the candidacy worth it.
Here’s a bit of perspective, courtesy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
It would’ve cost big bucks to get
Republican Tim Pawlenty to
return to Ames, where his presi-
LOOKING FORWARD
IN ANGST
dential campaign ended in 2011
after a poor finish at the Iowa
Straw Poll.
Emails released by Iowa State
University show its Harkin
Institute of Public Policy wanted Pawlenty to come speak last
month about Iowa’s leadoff
role in the presidential nominating process.
Pawlenty’s agent told school
officials his speaking fee was
$25,000 plus expenses. Institute
director Dave Peterson wrote that
fee was “well beyond” what the
institute could afford, but started asking others whether they
could “cobble together enough”
university funds from elsewhere.
If Tim Pawlenty, the guy Bachmann personally drove from the
2012 race, has been priced out
of the cheap seats because of his
terrible presidential bid, then
Bachmann is going to be fine. If
the campaign scandals from her
2012 bid are driving her out of the
House of Representatives, then
the rest of us will be fine, too.
Basically, Bachmann’s decision
to run for president was a
win-win for everyone.
HUFFINGTON
06.09.13