DES MOINES, Iowa -- “I like Sarah Palin a lot,” Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said at Thursday’s night’s Republican presidential debate. “We are very good friends.”
Bachmann’s charitable words were the latest in a long line of glowing public comments that the two potential Republican rivals have showered upon each other since 2008.
But a personal relationship between the conservative female leaders has, in fact, been nonexistent for the past 16 months, as aides from Bachmann’s camps have privately -- and sometimes publicly -- disparaged Palin to an extent that has caused growing exasperation in Palin world. That behind-the-scenes rancor is now boiling over as the former Alaska governor inches closer to a presidential run.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/08/13/palin-bachmann_rancor_heats_up_below_the_surface_110942.html