Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s campaign is hitting some rocky terrain - “The Granite State” to be more specific - and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Jeff Chidester, Bachmann’s campaign manager in New Hampshire, is in fact leaving. This follows an earlier report by WMUR Political Scoop’s James Pindell that Michele Bachmann’s paid staffers in New Hampshire have also quit, citing frustrations not with the candidate but the national campaign operation itself.
While the news reverberated around the Republican presidential field, it appears it came as a little bit of a surprise for team Bachmann.
“We have a great team in New Hampshire and we have not been notified that anyone is leaving the campaign,” Bachmann campaign manager Keith Nahigian said in a statement. “We look forward to spending more time in the Granite State between now and the primary, but our campaign has emphasized that our main focus is the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa and we are continuing to build efforts there. While she will campaign in other states, Michele will spend the majority of her time in Iowa, doing what she does better than all the other candidates - retail politics - leading up to the all important caucuses.”
At a time where everyone needs to show donors that they still have a chance at winning, the New Hampshire shake-up is not likely to bode well for team Bachmann, even if most of their eggs lay in Iowa’s basket. Reports show that the candidate is currently spending more than she’s taking in, and a sudden wave of departures is not the answer to that problem.
Igor Bobic
Igor Bobic is the assistant editor of Talking Points Memo, helping oversee the site's coverage of politics and policy in Washington. While originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor feels best at home on the beaches of Southern California. He can be reached at igor@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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