Michelle Bachman Will Not Seek a 4th Term as a Minnesota Congressional Rep.

     Just recently she claimed that the people in her district were 'urging me to impeach Obama.'

     http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/05/reliving-the-crazy-michele-bachmanns-greatest-hits.php?ref=fpa

     Alas, they are apparently not really urging her to do much of anything, know, but leave office. Many liberals seem to find this bittersweet-she was such a gaffe machine. Still, if anything, what concerns me is that this may make it easier rather than tougher for the GOP to hold onto her seat.

      "With Bachmann’s departure, the tea party’s voice in Congress will dim. She is the movement’s third big-name figure in recent months to leave Congress — Jim DeMint of South Carolina resigned from the Senate in January to take over the Heritage Foundation. And in November, Florida Rep. Allen West, another conservative bomb thrower, lost reelection."

      Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/michele-bachmann-retiring-   91978.html#ixzz2UhMkhALs

      However, here's the bad news

     "Ironically, the retirement may improve Republicans’ chances of holding Minnesota’s conservative 6th Congressional District, which broke for Mitt Romney by nearly 15 percentage points in 2012. Democrats had Bachmann at the top of their target list after she barely survived reelection last year. The Democrat who came close to defeating her, Jim Graves, was gearing up for a rematch."

      So she's gone and that's good as she was nuts-another Tea Party nut goes home.However, we;ll need some other comic relief and it might even be a heavier lift for the Dems to take her seat now. 

     "Bachmann’s decision comes as she faces a growing swirl of investigations into her campaign finances, with the The Federal Election Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics opening investigations into whether her campaign concealed payments to an Iowa state senator who did work for her 2012 presidential bid. Last week, the FBI reportedly joined the inquiry.

    She claims that her decision has nothing to do with either her tougher re-election chances or the investigations. Her campaign scandals underscore the point that's been made in recent days: many of these Tea Party groups should be scrutinized by the IRS. 

   "The more information that comes out about the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, the harder it is to say employees there erred completely in putting more scrutiny on particular groups seeking tax-exempt status. According to the New York Times, for example, several of the tea party groups targeted by the IRS were engaged in overt political activity. One group — the Wetumpka Tea Party in Alabama — sponsored get-out-the-vote training “dedicated to ‘the defeat of President Barack Obama.’” Another, an organization meant to engage veterans in government, had given donations to a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives."

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/27/some-tea-party-groups-examined-by-the-irs-indeed-crossed-the-line/

    Her decision has shocked many in her party. 

     "The congresswoman’s decision comes as a shock to Republican officials, many of whom thought she was taking serious steps to running for reelection. Early this month, Bachmann began airing TV ads highlighting her role in sponsoring legislation to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law – an especially early point in the election season for a House member to begin running commercials.

And many of the Republicans saw Bachmann, a familiar face on the cable TV news circuit, making fewer headlines recently as she focused on holding local events in her district."

     "Bachmann’s outsized success with the conservative grassroots was not matched with equal prowess inside the Beltway. In the Capitol, the Minnesota Republican never proved herself a savvy legislative operator, or even a real factor in the rough and tumble of Congressional brawling. She drew her strength from her ability to grab headlines opposing President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda."

     "Her attendance at closed House Republican Conference strategy sessions has been sporadic over the years – at times, she was known to stand outside the gatherings on her cell phone, giving interviews. At one point during the 2012 presidential campaign, when the party was plotting delicate fiscal strategy, Bachmann was spotted outside on her cell phone, speaking on a radio show opposing her leadership."

     Sounds sort of like the Sarah Palin Syndrome: she's a symbol for the Tea Party but not much of a legislator. She did have a recent victory

     "On Tuesday, Bachmann saw one of her longtime legislative pursuits come to fruition, when she helped break ground on the new St. Croix River Crossing – a bridge that connects Wisconsin to Minnesota. She and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) championed legislation to spur the project, which critics described it as pork-barrel, stimulus spending.

       Sounds like a worthy accomplishment but not exactly a Tea Party victory. She was the leading sponsor on one recent House bill that passed: the latest repeal of ObamaCare. Now there's an accomplishment.