In yet another sign of the Michele Bachmann meltdown, pollster Ed Goeas is leaving her presidential campaign after the Oct. 18 GOP debate in Las Vegas. Goeas is helping Bachmann through the next two debates and will then part ways with the campaign as it focuses on Iowa.
"The campaign's going to focus on retail politics in Iowa and I'm going to focus on other projects not related to the campaign," Goeas told the National Journal's Influence Alley.
A Bachmann spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.
Goeas' departure comes on the heels of the high-profile exit of campaign manager Ed Rollins, who told MSNBC that Bachmann does not have the resources to compete beyond Iowa. Goeas and Rollins were two of the biggest Republican names to join the campaign and lend it credibility in the early going.
As recently as this summer, Bachmann looked as if she were running a multi-state strategy, campaigning in New Hampshire and Florida. Her campaign hit a high-water mark when in August she won the Ames straw poll. But Bachmann was unable to use that momentum to cement her position as the field's conservative rebel, a mantle that Texas Gov. Rick Perry successfully claimed when he entered the race in August.
Bachmann is not the only candidate retrenching. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman recently pulled his campaign staff out of Florida and doubled down in New Hampshire. Huntsman is betting that the relatively moderate Granite State electorate gives him the best chance to upset former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is widely seen to have a home field advantage.
Beth Reinhard contributed.
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