Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) has hired pollster and political consultant Ed Rollins to run her campaign for president, if she does run for president. Rollins managed Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, which ended in a landslide for Reagan. Rollins also managed Ross Perot's 1992 Presidential bid, and was campaign chair for Mike Huckabee's 2008 bid for the Republican presidential nomination. In 1993, Rollins managed Christie Todd Whitman's campaign for governor of New Jersey. The New York Times reported that in that campaign, Rollins paid out about $500,000 in "walking around money" to black ministers and Democratic party workers in exchange for  promises not to rally votes for Ms. Whitman's opponent, incumbent Gov. Jim Florio. In New Jersey, such "street money" is intended to cover incidental Election Day expenses to help get out the vote, like providing bus fare, cab fare or lunch for poll workers. The individual payments Rollins made in Whitman's campaign were small enough to evade campaign reporting requirements. Rollins' effort to depress the black, urban vote in New Jersey were pivotal in helping Ms. Whitman win a narrow victory in that election.

Under U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Rule 1330.09, U.S. military bases are supposed to sell tobacco products at no more than 5 percent less than the lowest price in surrounding civilian markets, but army and air force bases across the country are routinely violating this rule. An investigation revealed 15 military bases offer discounts on cartons of cigarettes that range from 10 to 40 percent. Those big discounts on cigarettes lead to big costs for taxpayers. Almost 40 percent of smokers in the military say they starting smoking after joining, and in 2008 alone the Veterans Administration spent over $5 billion treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a tobacco-related illness. Smoking also affects troop readiness by decreasing physical fitness, motor coordination, stamina and increasing the amount of time it takes for wounds to heal. The DOD claims service members use tobacco to relieve stress, but Dr. Benjamin Gonzales, who served in the Air Force and Army for 24 years as a trauma doctor, says nicotine addiction causes the stress and using tobacco just reduces withdrawal symptoms. He says the relationship between tobacco use and price is well documented. An investigation showed that, to set prices, military pricing coordinators look at cigarette prices at other military bases instead of basing prices on those at local stores. For those who comply with Rule 1330.09, some of those "local stores" are as much as five hours away, or on an Indian reservations. When these pricing coordinators were asked if they would stop doing that and set prices as defense policy dictates -- by just looking at prices in the local convenience stores, retailers and gas stations -- they wouldn't give a straight answer.