Michele Bachmann is up with her first ad in Iowa. Let's take a look:
It's friendly and cheery, with the happy guitar strumming in the background and light colors, along with time-lapse shots of Waterloo. Bachmann gives the bullet version of her bio -- "As a descendent of generations of Iowans, I was born and raised in Waterloo. As a mom of five, a foster parent, a former tax lawyer" (don't mention that she worked for the IRS!) "and now a small business job creator" -- before moving on to the issues. Abortion? Gay marriage? No way. "I know that we can't keep spending money that we don't have. That's why I fought against the wasteful bailout" (Which one? You know, the wasteful one. Whichever one that was) "against the stimulus. I. Will. Not. Vote. To increase the debt ceiling." All of this is said with a big, broad smile, which might seem a bit odd when she's proudly declaring her intention to plunge America into an economic cataclysm, but there are more important considerations at work.
The spot ends with this tag line: "Michele Bachmann for president: The unifying choice that will beat Obama." Move past the awkward grammar, and you have to ask: "Unifying?" Michele Bachmann is many things, but "unifying" isn't one that immediately comes to mind. But that may be the essence of her message, and her strategy, which goes something like this: "I'm from Iowa. And not at all scary or crazy. And also, from Iowa."
