Despite being born in the Hawkeye State and winning the Republican straw poll in Ames back in August, Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is sinking in Iowa, home of the first caucus. Bachmann unveiled an experienced political team on Thursday as she looks to turn things around in the state to revive her faltering presidential campaign.

Bachmann named longtime Iowa Republican strategist Eric Woolson as her Iowa campaign manager. Woolson held the same position for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, guiding him to an upset win in the Hawkeye State.

"We have a strong, experienced organization in place that is equipped to build upon Michele Bachmann's historic victory in the Republican Party of Iowa straw poll this summer," said Keith Nahigian, Bachmann’s national campaign manager, in a statement released on Thursday. "Eric is the perfect person to lead our team to victory on caucus day."

Woolson is not the only veteran of the Huckabee campaign to be joining the Bachmann team. Mark Doland, an organizer for Huckabee in 2008 who also worked for Bob Vander Plaats during his gubernatorial run in 2010, will be leading Bachmann’s team in the southeastern part of the state. Conservative activist Emma Aquino-Nemecek, who worked on Sam Brownback’s and John McCain’s presidential campaigns in 2008, will be directing Bachmann’s campaign in the northeast part of the state. Chris Dorr, who worked for Ron Paul’s 2008 bid, will be leading Bachmann’s efforts in the northwest part of the state while Tony Eastman, who has experience in Iowa politics as well, will be focused on the central and southwest parts of the state.

Yet another veteran of the Huckabee and Vander Plaats campaigns, Barb Heki, will be reaching out to home-schooling parents for Bachmann while Peter Waldron, who has worked for seven presidential campaigns, and Drew Klein, who had been with the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, will be leading efforts to reach out to religious conservatives.

A CNN/Time poll of Iowa Republicans showed that Bachmann, who has focused heavily on the Hawkeye State, is fading there. She placed a distant sixth in the poll, taking 6 percent -- far behind former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts who led with 24 percent and businessman Herman Cain who placed second with 21 percent.

The poll of 405 Republican voters in Iowa was taken Oct. 20-25 and had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.

 

Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.