Doctor: Bachmann in “good general health”

Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign released a letter Wednesday from the attending physician of Congress that states she is in “good general health”, the Minnesota Republican’s latest attempt to move beyond a report earlier in the week that she suffers from at-times debilitating migraine headaches.

“Your migraines occur infrequently and have known trigger factors of which you are aware and know how to avoid,” wrote Dr. Brian P. Monahan in a letter to Bachmann that her campaign distributed to reporters this afternoon.

Monahan added that Bachmann is treated with two drugs to control her migraines — sumatriptan and odasentron — but does not take them daily. “You have not needed medical attention from me regarding your migraines with the use of the above mentioned commonly used therapies,” wrote Monahan.

The letter from Monahan comes roughly 48 hours after the Daily Caller, a conservative website, published a story that suggested Bachmann frequently suffers incapacitating headaches that have forced her to cancel previously scheduled appearances.

In response to the story, Bachmann issued a statement Tuesday insisting that “my ability to function effectively has never been impeded by migraines and will not affect my ability to serve as commander in chief.”

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who is trying to make up ground against Bachmann in advance of next month’s Ames Straw poll, suggested Wednesday in Iowa that the discussion of the Congresswoman’s migraines was fair game.

“All of the candidates, I think, are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job all of the time,” Pawlenty said. “If you’re going to be president of the United States you’ve got to be able to do the job every day, all the time. There’s no real time off in that job.”

Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Bachmann’s presidential campaign, said that the Congresswoman “works a tough schedule, 6-7 events a day, in 100 degree weather, and has never missed an event due to a migraine.”

Bachmann is hoping her statement as well as the doctor’s letter put questions about her fitness for office to rest. She remains the hottest commodity in Republican politics at the moment with a slew of state and national polling suggesting she has emerged as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s main rival for the nomination at the moment.

For more on what Bachmann’s headaches tell us about her 2012 presidential campaign, check out our post from earlier today on the subject.