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Michele Bachmann, the fiery conservative Republican representing Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, was flying high in the early going of the GOP presidential nomination race. She claimed the Iowa Straw Poll, hovered near the top of public opinion polls and raised money with a vengeance. Enter Rick Perry, the brash Texas governor who siphoned the spotlight and support from other candidates, Bachmann included.
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Now she's considered a second-tier candidate behind Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who flip as leading the Republican field, depending on the poll.
"She's claiming she is the 100 percent conservative candidate," trying to appeal to the conservative and evangelical factions of the Republican Party, said political commentator Steven Schier, political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.
"'I am the undiluted conservative in the field,' is how she's been presenting herself," he said. "That worked well in Iowa," but not as well elsewhere.
Bachmann is unabashed about her top priority -- erasing the new healthcare law that she calls "Obamacare" from the books. She rarely misses an opportunity to criticize President Obama's policies, which she says are toxic to business and job-killers, or a chance to call for lowering the federal government's profile in the lives of Americans.
The federal government, she said during a recent debate, needs to pull back from picking up the tab for people's prescription drugs, retirement, healthcare, housing and food.
"That's the principle that has to change, because we have to now recognize that, going forward this isn't going to work anymore," Bachmann said during a debate in Tampa, Fla. "We have to be an ownership society, where individual responsibility, personal responsibility once again becomes the animating American principle."
During a recent visit to a coffee shop in Des Moines, Iowa, Bachmann didn't take on her party challengers, focusing instead on a call to lower corporate taxes, less government regulation, less federal government spending, expanded domestic energy production and better border security, the Des Moines Register reported.
"We have an economy that's declining right now," Bachmann said. "We have to grow the economy. That's what I know to do and that's what I will do as president of the United States."
She also won't pass up a chance to skewer her Republican challengers for messing with individual rights, such as Perry, who decreed pre-pubescent girls be vaccinated against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancer.
What he called erring on the side of life she called "a violation of a liberty interest."
"[To] have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong," she told Perry during the Tampa, Fla., debate. "That should never be done."
Bachmann moved to Washington after serving in the Minnesota state Senate, becoming the first Republican woman to represent the North Star State in Congress. Bachmann is a supporter of the Tea Party movement and a founder of the House Tea Party Caucus.
Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, have five children and have provided foster care for 23 others.
Her popularity is slipping in both straw and public opinion polls, plus Bachmann isn't quite the money monster she has been. Her campaign indicated she likely will have collected less than $5 million during the third quarter reporting period -- not insignificant, but certainly well behind Perry's reported $17 million for the same period.
Her campaign's also been shedding key staffers. The latest to go -- pollster Ed Goeas and senior adviser Andy Parrish. A campaign spokeswoman said Parrish will return to Bachmann's congressional office in Washington while Goeas will rejoin the campaign "at the end of the month working on different projects."
In September, campaign manager Ed Rollins departed, citing health reasons. Rollins' deputy, David Polyansky, also left, citing differences of opinion on the campaign's direction.
When Bachmann entered the race, the conventional wisdom was that she'd never have to worry about cash because she raised a record-setting $13.5 million for her 2010 re-election to the House.
"When you raise small-donor money, you go on Fox and say something more or less outrageous, and that's what people contribute to," Rollins told The New York Times. "You throw a hand grenade, and people respond."
To attract deep-pocket donors and bundlers, which Bachmann needs, "you've got to be a serious candidate with serious solutions," Rollins said. "That's a challenge."
Bachmann also has been battling a problem that affects congressional members seeking the presidency -- missed votes. The Hill reported Bachmann missed all 60 votes the House conducted during September.
"By continuing to lead the fight against President Obama's job-destroying policies, Congresswoman Bachmann is serving not only her constituents, but also the 14 million Americans who are unemployed, and millions more who are reeling from the effects of an economy that's been devastated by over-taxation, over-regulation and by White House attacks on job creators," spokeswoman Becky Rogness said about Bachmann's voting record. "She remains in regular contact with her congressional staff and is actively ensuring that her constituents in Minnesota's 6th District are being served and represented in Washington."
The only other congressional candidate making a presidential nomination run, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, missed a majority of votes during September but returned for three days of votes in the middle of the month.
On the stump, Bachmann has had issues with facts, such saying the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts, wishing Elvis Presley a happy birthday on the day marking the anniversary of The King's death and her assertion the HPV vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer causes mental retardation, a contention medical experts roundly rebuked.
Besides the gaffes and fundraising problems, Bachmann has other issues gumming up her efforts to move up the street in Washington.
"She has no executive experience. She never ran for president and never won a statewide office," political observer Schier said. "She really hasn't demonstrated a record of electoral success or the experience to rival Romney or Perry."
Plus, Bachmann "has defined herself so strongly at edge of the party that she is seen as neither presidential nor electable," Schier said.
He said he expects Bachmann to bow out fairly early because she'll have trouble being financially competitive over the long term.
"She might be a Ron Paul-type of candidate who runs to influence the agenda," Schier said. "She may run several times. But having a serious chance of getting nominated? I don't think so."
