Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann, Desperate for a late lift in Iowa, Republican Michele Bachmann is increasingly stressing a distinction in the presidential field: She’s the only woman competing for the nomination.

The Minnesota congresswoman has made the gender card central to her closing argument. She’s urging voters to embrace the idea of a “strong woman in the White House” and is molding herself as “America’s Iron Lady” in the vein of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

It’s a play that carries as much risk as potential reward because some of the ardent religious conservatives she’s aggressively courting have traditional views about gender roles.

History is not on Bachmann’s side, either. Iowa has never elected a woman as governor or to its congressional delegation, a footnote shared only with Mississippi.

It was only a few years ago when GOP presidential nominee John McCain energized his campaign by putting Sarah Palin on the ticket, inspiring a hot pink-shirted army of voters the folksy former Alaska governor affectionately coined “mamma grizzlies.” Palin opted out of the 2012 race and so far isn’t pushing her followers in any direction.

Bachmann seldom underscored gender early in her campaign. She would sprinkle in mentions of motherhood and even shared an emotional story about how a miscarriage fortified her anti-abortion views. But she was mostly content letting voters notice the obvious difference on their own as she stood on debate stages surrounded by a bunch of men.

But as Bachmann darted around Iowa in the hectic days before Tuesday’s caucuses, she hit the woman theme hard.

“I’m an Iowa girl. And one thing I remember about Iowa is we are a state of strong women,” Bachmann told the lunch crowd at a 50s-themed burger joint in Mount Ayr. “We need a strong woman to turn this country around, right?”

Longtime residents Margaret Bickers and Mary Davenport, sitting in a booth near Bachmann, nodded in agreement.

“Women are just more passionate than the men,” Bickers told a reporter. “We need a woman who is not afraid to vocalize that passion and effect change.”

“It takes a woman to get things done,” Davenport chimed in. Both said they were inclined to caucus for Bachmann.

Bachmann dispenses warm hugs as readily as simple handshakes. She’ll sometimes run her hand along another woman’s back during conversations, extended contact her male challengers tend to avoid.

When a 90-year-old woman shared that she was a mother of 12, Bachmann crouched by her side to hear more. “What a blessing,” the candidate said.

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann, High level of staff departures campaign Michele Bachmann is raising new questions about his durability in the face of the final the day after Labor contest the 2012 presidential primary.

POLITICAL As first reported on Sunday, his campaign manager, Ed Rollins, the campaign will move from day to day management of a function of high-level advice. His deputy, David Polyansky, is leaving the campaign.

Both played a key role in Bachmann’s vault to a first place in the straw poll in Ames Iowa on August 13, an event that served as the first major test of the organization in the state of the first caucus and one in who earned the victory in Texas Rep. Ron Paul. But since then, the Minnesota congressman has been Texas Governor Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, ahead of his camera in recent years, national surveys.

Rollins, in an interview, described their health as the main factor behind the change.

“I wish I had 40 years of age, but I’m not,” he told Politico. “I am 68 years old, I had a stroke a year and a half ago. I’m exhausted.”

He said the campaign rigors of daily routine were just to reach him and that Bachmann fully supported yet. He said he would travel with her to California to debate the first fall, which has its headquarters on Wednesday in the Reagan Presidential Library and NBC POLITICAL News.

“I want nothing but the best thing for her is a great candidate, I will continue to be there for her,” Bachmann said, adding that he believes is still a force in Iowa and the debate will be an important time of the different candidates.

Bachmann said in a statement: “In less than 50 days and with fewer resources than other campaigns, Ed was the architect who led our campaign for a historic victory in Iowa I am very grateful for his guidance and leadership, and luck to keep his valuable advice despite his failing health that allows you to monitor the daily operations of the campaign. ”

Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart, who worked with Rollins in the campaign of Mike Huckabee in 2007, said the move was no surprise and there was no campaign of reorganization, “The plan from the beginning has been the restructuring of things after the survey. Ed has been – and always will be – an important part of the campaign. Given his health, now is the perfect time for Ed to leave the busy day by day and in an advisory role. After a victory tremendous straw poll, we hope that the construction team as we approach the caucuses and primaries. ”

However, Polyansky – who along with Rollins also played a key role in Huckabee’s presidential campaign – will not stay.

“I’d hate to Michele, but the best, and anyone who underestimates a candidate is at your own risk,” POLITICAL Polyansky said.

A GOP source familiar with the situation said Polyansky had “strategic differences about the way forward” with the candidate, who has struggled to gain traction in recent weeks.

It was not immediately clear who would take first place in the Bachmann campaign, while trying to find his balance in a race that is rapidly reconfiguring a two-man contest between Perry and favorites Mitt Romney – a fact that Rollins said in an interview with the Washington Post on Monday.

Keith Bachmann Nahigian advance man is being moved to the slot on the campaign manager.