Nick Baumann

"In fact, until her surprising debate performance, this tendency to be underestimated has been the story of Bachmann’s political career—and her talent for exploiting it has been her singular political genius. In the mid-1970s, when she was an undergraduate at Winona State University, Bachmann was elected student body vice president. “Michele was picked because she appealed to the Jesus freak voters and to provide some eye candy,” says Jerome Christenson, a former classmate of Bachmann’s who helped put together the winning slate of candidates on which Bachmann ran. The fact that Bachmann was engaged, capable and had been active in evangelical Democrat Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign didn’t seem to impress anyone. “She was this somewhat scatterbrained, ditzy brunette who had a great butt,” recalls Christenson. “She was a lightweight and nobody really credited her with being much more than that.” It was the man who served above Bachmann as the student body president who was thought to be the political rising star. He’s now a farmer."