Unpopularity Serves Michele Bachmann

Popularity is nice, but unpopularity can be useful as well. Just ask Michele Bachmann. Like Sarah Palin, the Minnesota congresswoman and Republican Presidential candidate has turned enraging large numbers of people—including some in her own party—into an exquisite art form. She opposed raising the debt ceiling to the very end. Her views on gay people are positively rabid. And she doesn’t mind repeating things that are known not to be true, accusing President Barack Obama of spending $200 million a day on a visit to India.

The madder Bachmann’s enemies get, the more her supporters love her. As August began, she was leading in the polls in Iowa. “No. 1, she’s colorful. And she’s angry,” says Fred Davis, a Republican media strategist. “A lot of the populace, especially on the far right side of the Republican Party, are very angry right now, and they like someone who stands out and pounds the podium.” Her breakout moment came during the early Republican debate on June 13, when she smiled and stuck to her Tea Party talking points while the men around her competed for the title of most-boring-white-guy (plus Herman Cain).