DES MOINES, Iowa, June 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is not ready for presidency, her former chief of staff writes in The Des Moines (Iowa) Register.
But Ron Carey, now a businessman in the Minneapolis area, tells Iowans former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has "the readiness to serve as president."
Pawlenty and Bachmann, R-Minn., are among a group of candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination. Bachmann is one of the front-runners in early Iowa polls while Pawlenty is trying to break out of the pack. The comments followed by one day Bachmann's announcement she would seek the nomination.
"It is safe to say that I am one of just a handful of people who have worked closely with two of the candidates for president," Carey said in Tuesday's Register piece. "As the former chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party during the tenure of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, as well as the former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, I have watched both candidates from behind the public scene."
Pawlenty "possesses the judgment, the demeanor and the readiness to serve as president; Michele Bachmann decidedly does not," he says.
"The Bachmann campaign and congressional offices I inherited were wildly out of control. Stacks upon stacks of unopened contributions filled the campaign office while thousands of communications from citizens waited for an answer. If she is unable, or unwilling, to handle the basic duties of a campaign or congressional office, how could she possibly manage the magnitude of the presidency?"
Carey, a native Iowan, said he agreed with Pawlenty and Bachmann on the issues.
The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for February.
