In an interview with The Hill, co-chairman of Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign Vin Weber said it would be hard to beat Michele Bachmann in Iowa for a number of reasons, one being because she has sex appeal.
"It's going to be very hard to beat Michele in Iowa. Period," Weber said of both the Iowa caucuses and August's influential straw poll in Ames.
"She's got hometown appeal, she's got ideological appeal, and, I hate to say it, but she's got a little sex appeal too," he said in a phone interview.
Pawlenty later apologized for the remark.
Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty says a top campaign adviser was wrong to suggest GOP rival Michele Bachmann's popularity was due partly to her "sex appeal."
One of Pawlenty's senior campaign advisers, Vin Weber, made the comment during an interview with The Hill, a congressional newspaper. Weber was explaining why he thought the Minnesota congresswoman would be difficult to beat in Iowa's leadoff nominating caucuses in February.
Pawlenty, Minnesota's former governor, told The Associated Press during a campaign stop Wednesday in Iowa that Weber wasn't speaking for the campaign and "you shouldn't use sex appeal in evaluating a candidate's fitness for office." Weber has apologized for the remark.
Bachmann is beating Pawlenty by double digits in the latest Iowa polling.
