On Wednesday two of the most charismatic and polarizing figures in the Republican Party joined forces in Minneapolis. In front of a boisterous crowd of conservative supporters, Rep. Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin drummed up support for Bachmann's re-election campaign. Bachmann introduced Palin saying, "As absolutely drop-dead gorgeous as Sarah Palin is on the outside, she's 20 times more beautiful on the inside." Preceding the event, Time's Michael Sherer offered some giddy analysis:

To hear the chatter, this is big, like The Beatles partying with The Rolling Stones, or Prince sharing a stage with Michael Jackson, or Elvis doing a surfer movie with Frank Sinatra. The two alpha women of conservative politics, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin... share the same stage in Minnesota Wednesday for a rally, with a private fundraiser to follow. Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland are setting odds on whether Chris Matthews will implode into a black hole.

Though Palin and Bachmann excite the conservative base, they're anathema to Democrats, which the Democratic National Committee is trying to capitalize on. The DNC released this heavily edited video, putting its own spin on the Palin-Bachmann duo:


The Atlantic's Chris Good says it's a match made in heaven:

Palin and Bachmann are natural allies; they both comport a tea-party brand of conservatism and "common sense" values... Their politics and appeal are similar, and they've forged an alliance.

From the left, Salon's Michael Madden simply marvels at the political pairing:

It would probably defy the laws of physics for Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to headline the same rally. But the laws of politics are far more flexible. So two of the biggest stars in the tea party world will come together Wednesday in front of 10,000 people in Minneapolis.

Chris Bowers at Open Left thinks the impressive turnout at today's event proves Palin can win the party's presidential nomination:

If Sarah Palin runs for President, then she will win the Republican nomination.  The rally she is holding today with Michelle Bachmann is amazing, and Obama-like, in it's size... Anyone who can draw 10,000 people to a rally in Minnesota--in early 2010, no less-- is formidable.  
In the specific case of Sarah Palin, it makes her virtually unstoppable.

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John Hudson