A day after advisers of Rep. Michele Bachmann dribbled out hints that the Sixth District Republican might go from being a Tea Party darling to a presidential contender, she got the ultimate nod from the most mainstream of the mainstream media.
On Friday morning, Bachmann dominated the top of the website of the New York Times, headlined, "Who Wins and Who Loses if Bachmann Runs in 2012?"
The story is kind of a tip sheet, doping out the pros and cons of a possible run by Bachmann, concluding, "Bachmann may yet decide not to run for president this year. But Republican strategists for her potential rivals believe she is serious about mounting a run for the Republican nomination, and they are planning accordingly."
The whole thing can be read here.
UPDATE: Slate's John Dickerson also weighed in on the prospects of a Bachmann candidacy, concluding, "don't write off Michele Bachmann... This has been a sleepy, late-starting campaign so far. Today we may have seen its first serious dark-horse candidate."
