Does Michelle Bachmann want to run for Senate? Public Policy Polling finds the numbers pretty favorable for her, at least for the primary:
Michele Bachmann is by far and away the first choice of Minnesota Republicans to take on Amy Klobuchar in 2012. 36% say they’d most like to see her as their Senate candidate followed by Tim Pawlenty at 20% and Norm Coleman at 14%. The rest of the folks named in the poll register in single digits — Chip Cravaack at 7%, Tom Emmer at 6%, John Kline at 5%, Laura Brod at 4%, and Erik Paulsen at 2%.
It’s remarkable to see Bachmann do so much better than Pawlenty on that front, but it just goes to show how much more enamored the party’s conservative base is with her than him. With moderates Pawlenty actually is the first choice, garnering 26% to 18% each for Coleman and Bachmann. But with conservatives she blows him out of the water, getting 42% to his 19% with Coleman at 14%. Given how strongly Klobuchar polls this exercise is probably academic- her opponent seems likely to be someone a lot more low profile than either Pawlenty or Bachmann — someone who has nothing to lose by launching a long shot Senate campaign.
Hard to imagine Chip Cravaack running for Senate so soon after his upset House win.
PPP also finds:
On the Presidential front in the state Pawlenty continues to lead but with a tepid 24%. For sake of comparison Mitt Romney polled at 47% in his home state two weeks ago. Sarah Palin is second in the state at 17%, followed by Mike Huckabee with 15%, Romney with 13%, and Newt Gingrich with 11%. Leading the second tier is Ron Paul at 9%, with John Thune at 3% and Mitch Daniels at 2%.