Is Bachmann Throwing in the Towel?

Michele Bachmann seems to be putting on the campaign brakes—or never really had her foot on the gas to begin with. Filings show the fading candidate had no plans as far back as June to put staff workers or volunteers in Florida, Texas, Michigan, or California—and she hopes to raise a relatively paltry $30 million. That's what it says on an application from the Bachmann campaign for liability insurance that was forwarded to Gawker. "Let's just say she's thinking small," notes the gossip site. Each time the application asked for staffing numbers in the states, treasurer Nancy Watkins wrote: "None planned."

The primary in Florida, a crucial state, is the one Bachmann has insisted she'll win "twice—once in the primary and once in the general election," which will be tough to do without staff or volunteers. The application, Gawker admits, could be a baby campaign's modest plans when it was filed in June. To really figure out what the candidate's plans are "it's much better to look at what Bachmann is up to now. Like this Friday—Black Friday—when she'll be at the Mall of America signing" her new "hastily written memoir," chortles Gawker. (More Michele Bachmann 2012 stories.)