Michele Bachmann’s presidential hopes continues to struggle as her Iowa chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, defected Wednesday to rival Ron Paul’s side.
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This was an embarrassing blow to the Minnesota Congresswoman. Hours after appearing with Bachmann at an event, Sorenson gave his endorsement to the Texas congressman at a Des Moines rally.
Sorenson said he resigned from Bachmann’s campaign to back Paul, whom he called the most conservative of the top-tier candidates.
According to Bachmann, she believes that Sorenson made the jump due to monetary reasons:
“He was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign. Kent said to me yesterday that `everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I. Then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions.”
Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton said the campaign was not paying Sorenson and that he was puzzled why Bachmann would make such a claim against an elected official, Benton said, “We’ve always known Michele to be an honorable person. She should stop slandering an honorable Iowa state senator.”
Sorenson announced the switch during a Paul veterans rally in Des Moines. He didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press to address Bachmann’s charges that the move was financially based.
“The fact is, there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group,” Sorenson said in a statement. “The truth is, it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign.”
All is fair in politics, Bachmann should know that rule by now. It’s a dirty game and Bachmann has witnessed it firsthand.
