Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is disputing reports in New Hampshire that her entire staff there has quit the campaign.
The New Hampshire Union Leader directly quotes one of the departing staff members who told the newspaper at least three other staff members had quit, too. During an interview with Radio Iowa, Bachmann said she had no knowledge of any staff departures.
“I don’t know if this is just a bad story that’s being fed by a different candidate or campaign — I have no idea where this came from, but we have made calls and it is certainly not true,” Bachmann said early Friday afternoon.
Someone from Rick Perry’s campaign spoke on the record with the paper in New Hampshire, confirming one of Bachmann’s New Hampshire staffers will begin working Monday for Perry’s campaign instead. Bachmann dismisses that and all the other accounts of staff departures as mere rumor.
“This is what’s really wrong with politics,” Bachmann said during her Radio Iowa interview. “It’s highly irresponsible media to spread stories and print stories that aren’t verified and aren’t true and I think this is wrong.”
Bachmann left California this afternoon, headed for a two-day campaign swing through Iowa that begins Saturday with a visit to the Dessert Factory in Winterset at noon and a town hall meeting in Creston at 2 p.m. On Saturday night Bachmann is among the six candidates who will speak at an Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition event on the Iowa State Fairgrounds.