Analysis: Michele Bachmann Wins Tea Party Debate





By Amy Walter

Sep 12, 2011 11:05pm




With her standing in the polls slipping, Michele Bachmann needed to find a way to capture the spotlight she held earlier this summer.
She just may have done that tonight at the Tea Party Express/CNN debate in Tampa, Florida.

Bachmann, the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the House, knew her audience well and it showed.

Unlike former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Bachmann took a pass at criticizing front-runner Texas Gov. Perry on Social Security and she refused to weigh in on Perry’s comment last month that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may be “treasonous.â€