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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a Tea Party stalwart who made a failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, announced Wednesday that she wouldn't seek re-election to a
fifth term in Congress next year. Bachmann narrowly beat challenger Jim Graves in 2012, and the well-funded Democrat was expected to have a good chance of ousting her in a 2014 rematch.
Bachmann, who is facing investigations into her presidential campaign's fundraising, said in a video announcing her decision that she wasn't leaving due to the pressure, while
predicting that Democrats would gloat about her departure. But will Democrats really be happy to see Bachmann go? SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the
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best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Democratic
strategist James Carville, for one, says it's the other way around: Republicans will likely be "relieved" to see Bachmann go, while Democrats would view her farewell as a
"sad day." Indeed, says Reid Wilson at _National Journal_, liberals have delighted in using Bachmann as something of a bogeyman on issues ranging from abortion to taxes. She
created headline-grabbing problems for her party, while failing to get much of anything done in Congress that furthered the conservative cause. And here's Ed Kilgore at the _Washington
Monthly_: A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com