Just weeks after Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Ames Iowa straw poll, her campaign has seemed to fallen apart. The latest Power Outsiders poll conducted by The Huffington Post and Patch found that Bachmann is losing credibility.

Nearly half of the influential local Republicans were surveyed in the early primary states, including New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, report a negative impression of Bachmann, and more than two thirds see little or no chance that Bachmann can either beat Barack Obama or win the Republican nomination.

This week, the HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders poll of 160 political activists, party officials and officeholders in the early primary and caucus states focuses on Bachmann. The poll does not survey all Republican voters, but focused on influential local activists and political insiders that have historically driven the outcome of party nomination campaigns.

This week, we heard from 38 Power Outsiders in Iowa, 57 in New Hampshire and 65 in South Carolina. The poll first asked respondents to use one word to describe their impression of Bachmann. Unlike with the two frontrunners, nearly half the words (48 percent) to describe Bachmann were negative, including “inexperienced,” “crazy,” “lightweight” and “scary.”

Fewer words (43 percent) were unambiguously positive, including “passionate,” “energetic,” “principled,” “determined” and “feisty.” Although we classified 8 percent of the comments as neutral, these included words like “conservative” (mentioned by 4 percent) that could have either a positive or negative connotation for the respondent.

The comparison between the one-word reaction to Bachmann and the two front-runners is stark. The influential local Republican activists we talked to were nearly twice as likely to use a negative word to describe Bachmann (48 percent) as Romney (28 percent) or Perry (24 percent) on previous surveys.

The Power Outsiders do express affinity for Bachmann’s issue positions. Nearly four out of five (78 percent) describe her as someone who “takes stands on issues you agree with,” although less than a third (29 percent) say that phrase describes Bachmann “very well.”

Respondents gave far more negative reactions to Bachmann when asked about other characteristics. Only 40 percent describe her as someone who “would make a good president,” and her ratings plunge on matters of viability. Only 29 percent describe her as someone “who can beat Barack Obama in the general election,” and even fewer (26 percent) say she can win the Republican nomination.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann attacked Governor Rick Perry during the last debate in Florida. She strongly criticized the Texas governor for his executive order in 2007 that mandated human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for sixth-grade girls. However, after the debate, Bachmann appeared on Fox News and spoke about a woman from the audience.

“There’s a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine,” Bachmann said. “She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result. There are very dangerous consequences.”

Perry said Wednesday morning that Bachmann’s comment “had no truth in it, no basis in fact.” Other people have criticized Bachmann’s comments as well, including her former campaign manager, Ed Rollins. “She made a mistake. The quicker she admits she made a mistake and moves on, the better she is,” Rollins said in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday.

“Ms. Bachmann’s an emotional person who basically has great feeling for people. I think that’s what she was trying to project. Obviously it would have been better if she had stayed on the issue,” he said. Rollins admitted to Chris Matthews on MSNBC that Bachmann has taken what was a positive issue for her and at the least tainted it, allowing Perry to escape the full brunt of scrutiny he would have otherwise borne.

“I think the bottom line here is she has made what was a very positive debate and made the issue about Perry to where it’s now an issue about her, and she needs to move on,” Rollins said. After a few days of silence, the Minnesota Congresswoman is on the defensive.

“During the debate, I didn’t make any statements that would indicate that I’m a doctor, I’m a scientist or that I’m making any conclusions about the drug one way or another,” the GOP presidential hopeful told reporters.

Asked whether she would apologize for comments that outraged medical experts say will discourage parents from getting their children immunized, Bachmann said: “Oh, I’m not going to answer that.”

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has not campaigned on the one thing that sets her apart-her gender. As of now, there is no Sarah Palin in the race and Bachmann represents the lone female in the presidential ring. Bachmann has chosen to downplay her gender, unlike her predecessors, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.

The presidential candidate does not mention that she would be the first female Republican presidential nominee. Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, said Bachmann’s decision to downplay her gender in her campaign could be a smart electoral strategy to win over the evangelical, conservative base.

“She does not embrace feminist policies or feminist principles,” said Lawless. “For them to portray her as breaking a glass ceiling becomes tricky. I think the campaign has rightly tried not to do that. The counter to that is Sarah Palin, who didn’t embrace feminist principles or feminist policies, but was a self-identified feminist and said she was out there to finish the work that Hillary Clinton started.

That disconnect between what her beliefs were and what her rhetoric said ultimately raised a lot of questions.” Women’s groups such as the National Organization for Women and NARAL Pro-Choice America have expressed concern that Bachmann as the first female president would actually be a setback for women rather than a victory.

“She is so opposed to women’s equality and women’s rights that I suppose it’s appropriate that she’s not touting herself as a woman candidate,” said Terry O’Neill, president of NOW. “Palin at least claims to support Title IX. I’m searching for an issue on which Bachmann and NOW would agree.”

Conservative women groups, however, do not understand why other women groups wouldn’t support Bachmann.. Ciara Matthews, communications director at the Susan B. Anthony List, which works to elect women who oppose abortion rights, said she can’t understand why any women’s group wouldn’t be pleased to see the first woman president elected.

“If we’re trying to send the message that women are as strong as men are, why do we need to highlight the fact that we are women doing something that women are expected to be able to do as well as men?” said Matthews. “And Bachmann has a very pro-woman agenda. She’s pro-life, and I think that the most pro-woman position you can take — wanting to defend women against the horrors of abortion.”

Bachmann’s campaign spokeswoman said the candidate doesn’t need to identify as a feminist or play up the fact that she is the only woman running because she leads by example. “Michele speaks with great pride about being a mother to her five wonderful children, foster mother to 23 children and wife of almost 33 years,” Alice Stewart said.

“She has talked about the many fond memories of raising her children and being a homemaker. She has shared the most personal story a woman can tell — that of losing a child due to a miscarriage. At campaign events across the country, mothers bring their daughters to meet Michele and say she is a tremendous role model to girls and women everywhere.”

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Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign suffered a major shake-up on Monday as her campaign manager and his close deputy, although her aides tried to downplay the changes.

Veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins stepped down as campaign manager for health reasons. The Bachmann campaign stated a strategist is filling in until a replacement is named. Rollins will continue to advise the campaign, according to Bachmann.

“In less than 50 days and with fewer resources than other campaigns, Ed was the architect that led our campaign to a historic victory in Iowa,” Bachmann said in a statement released late Monday, pointing to her win in the Ames Straw Poll last month.

“I am grateful for his guidance and leadership, and fortunate to retain his valuable advice even though his health no longer permits him to oversee the day-to-day operations of the campaign.” Rollins told CNN that the front-runners of the GOP race are Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, stating that Perry’s late entry has affected fundraising for Bachmann.

“I think legitimately it’s a Romney-Perry race,” he said. “I think she’s the third candidate at this point in time – which is way different and better than we’d thought when we started this thing – and she’s very much in this thing.”Rollins suffered a stroke a year ago and doesn’t feel he can carry on as campaign manager.

“I have great affection for her. I’ll do everything I can to help her. It’s still very much the team I put in place. I just don’t have the endurance to go 12-, 14-hour days seven days a week anymore,” he said.

His deputy, David Polyansky, who worked with him when they ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid in 2008, also planned to step aside, Rollins told CNN.”David and I have been a team for a long time,” he said. “It’s just a good time to make a change.”

Campaign strategist Keith Nahigian is taking over as campaign manager for the short-term. Prior to the Bachmann campaign, he was a government consultant at the Health and Human Services Department to the Homeland Security Department, as well as to the National Security Council.

“Keith has played a vital role in the success we have had to date and I’m confident he can lead us to a strong finish in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and across the country,” Bachmann said in her statement.

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Michele Bachmann proves once again she can dominate the news cycle with irrelevant statements and ideas. The representative from Minnesota who is vying for the republican presidential nomination stated that the United States can more energy resources than any other country but “radical environmentalists” won’t allow the government to exploit these resources.

Bachmann told a crowd in Florida that with shale oil, natural gas and coal, the United States shouldn’t be “begging” others for oil and energy supplies. She said “we are the king daddy dogs when it comes to energy,” but that environmentalists are preventing resources from being tapped.

Bachmann specifically pointed out untapped oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the nation’s coasts along with shale oil in Western states and rich natural gas and coal deposits. Bachmann stated that the U.S. “is sitting on a mother lode of treasure.” Bachmann promises to unlock those resources and disband the Environmental Protection Agency if she was elected president.

“The radical environmentalists have demanded that we lock up all our energy resources,” she said. “President Bachmann will take that key out of the door. I will unlock it.”She added that will eliminate the “job killing” Environmental Protection Agency.

“We will turn out the lights and we’ll lock the doors,” she said. The crowd at a retirement community cheered to those promises. I guess that will happen before she magically lowers gas prices.

Bachmann also spoke in Jacksonville last week. She told supporters there that the corporate income tax should be reduced to prevent more companies from moving jobs overseas. She was later asked by a reporter whether changes to the minimum wage should also be considered to balance the cost of labor here and overseas.”I’m not married to anything. I’m not saying that’s where I’m going to go,” she said.

“I want to bring advisers in from labor and from manufacturers and from the service industry and financial services. I want to know what they know, because that’s what we’ve been missing from President Obama. He has virtually no one in his Cabinet with private sector experience,” Bachmann said. “I want to bring people who know how to create jobs into my administration.”

Bachmann told the crowd she knows Florida will play an important role in the election.”We will be back here many, many, many, many, many times in Jacksonville, and we’re going to be old friends and neighbors by the time this is all done,” she said.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) does not like to be out of the news cycle for even a moment. While the national media was focused on potential destruction, in the form of Hurricane Irene and the earthquake, Bachmann was off the radar for a moment.

She didn’t seem to like it. So, she said something wacky and voila, we are back talking about the presidential candidate. Bachmann told a Florida crowd on Sunday that the hurricane and the earthquake were messages from God to warn “politicians” to start listening to divine guidance. It is weird to me that God is worried about that stuff when millions of people go to be hungry and stuff but what do I know.

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’”

Bachmann said in front of approximately 1,000 people. “Listen to the American people, because the American people are roaring right now,” Bachmann continued. “They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Bachmann, as crazy as her comments were, is not even the first to make the tenuous connection between two natural events and some wrath of God . Glenn Beck, radio personality, stated the events were a warning to the American people. “How many warnings do you think you’re going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve?

This hurricane that is coming through the East Coast, for anyone who’s in the East Coast and has been listening to me say ‘Food storage!’ ‘Be prepared!’” Beck said. “If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control.”

I find it interesting that people like Bachmann and Beck can link a natural disaster to some politic policies but it is blasphemy to even suggest that our foreign policies may have caused 9/11- a manmade disaster. That seems so much more plausible to me.

Bachmann’s spokesperson, Alice Stewart, said the comments were made in jest and not serious. I am not sure about that though. The very day a hurricane is hitting the northeast and people are losing their lives isn’t really a good time to make a joke about it. Either Bachmann was being serious or she is very insensitive.

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