Gaining ground in Iowa and nationally in the polls, Michele Bachmann has clearly decided she’ll be outflanked by no one in the debt ceiling fight. Staking out the farthest right position possible (well, maybe just short of Paul Broun), Bachmann is up with an ad in Iowa in which she promises never to vote for a debt ceiling increase. Period.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Meet The 2012 GOPers: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)]
The ad’s script:
“I will not vote to increase the debt ceiling. It goes completely contrary to commonsense and how I grew up in Iowa. So here I am in Congress watching these people borrow more money that we don’t have so that my children can be further indebted. We have to deal with the economic reality and I have the will and I have the courage to see this through. I’m Michele Bachmann and I approve this message.”
In keeping with her debt ceiling hard line, Bachmann was one of just a handful of Republicans to vote against the party’s Cut, Cap, and Balance bill yesterday that would have made the debt ceiling vote contingent on a Balanced Budget Amendment that would also cap spending overall at 18% of GDP. In a floor speech, Bachmann said “the motion does not go far enough in fundamentally restructuring the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars.”
Unfortunately for Bachmann, she’s only running against one other sitting lawmaker in Ron Paul, so it’s unclear how much ground she can gain relative to the others on this issue given that they don’t have to vote on it. There’s a very strong possibility every single presidential candidate from Mitt Romney to Gary Johnson will publicly reject whatever inevitable compromise is reached to raise the debt ceiling.
