Is Bachmann fading into irrelevance?

As GOP presidential frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney soak up the limelight battling for pole position in the race to unseat Pres. Barack Obama, Rep. Michele Bachmann is falling further behind with each passing day.

In the newest Rasmussen Reports national polling numbers Bachmann is down to 8 percent support — half her mark in the same poll two months ago.

Politico's Molly Ball notes that an increasingly irrelevant Bachmann seemed practically invisible during Thursday's GOP debate.

"Bachmann barely merited a mention in the post-debate analysis, from a post-debate focus group on Fox News to the ever-roiling debate-about-the-debate on Twitter. At one point mid-debate, conservative pundit Michelle Malkin tweeted, 'Is Michele Bachmann still there?'"

The New York Times reports about a reversal of fundraising fortunes for the Minnesota congresswoman.

"Mrs. Bachmann, who raised millions from small donors around the country while running for Congress from Minnesota, is encountering major headwinds raising money now, people close to the campaign said recently. …. Mrs. Bachmann's difficulties (include) her inability, so far, to be taken seriously by big-money Republican donors, especially in light of some high-profile stumbles on the campaign trail."

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