The latest issue of TIME devotes a full two pages — actually four, if you count a two-page photo — to Michele Bachmann’s chances of capturing the Republican presidential nomination.
The verdict? Don’t count her out:
Candidates with Evangelical appeal have a history of shining early in Republican primaries — think of Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa in 2008, and Pat Robertson, who finished second there 20 years earlier — and then fading. But Ralph Reed notes that Bachmann also draws considerable support from Tea Party activists who are addled by taxes and spending and have no faith in a relative moderate like Romney. Some GOP insiders may worry that Bachmann can’t beat Obama, but plenty of GOP activists disagree. “The only guy we’ve got running right now who’s unelectable is Mitt Romney,” says Don Roy, a conservative activist in an OBAMA IS WRONG T-shirt with the name Michele autographed across his shoulder, who had driven an hour to see Bachmann a second time that day.
