Citing health concerns, veteran political strategist Ed Rollins stepped down as Michele Bachmann’s campaign manager on Monday.
The 68-year-old Rollins, who suffered a stroke a year and half ago, said the demands of managing the day-to-day affairs of the campaign were taking its toll. “I just don’t have the endurance to go 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week anymore,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
The chief architect of President Reagan’s reelection landslide in 1984, Rollins served as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s national campaign director in 2008, propelling the little-known ex-governor to a first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses that year. He also briefly served as co-manager of Ross Perot’s independent campaign for the presidency in 1992.
Rollins, a former amateur boxing champion whose pugnacious tenacity and blunt honesty has long been admired by allies and feared by political opponents, said that he will retain a senior advisory role in Bachmann’s campaign.
Bachmann was effusive in her praise for Rollins. “In less than fifty days and with fewer resources than other campaigns, Ed was the architect that led our campaign to a historic victory in Iowa,” she said in a prepared statement. “I am grateful for his guidance and leadership, and fortunate to retain his valuable advice even though his health no longer permits him to oversee the day-to-day operations of the campaign.”
Keith Nahigian, a strategist for the Minnesota congresswoman, will serve as Bachmann’s interim campaign manager, it was announced late Monday night.
Follow Us