Bachmann spokeswoman defends reunion comment

Michele Bachmann's spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, confirmed that Bachmann had skipped the family reunion that she said she was attending, but insisted that her comments were consistent.

Stewart, who responded to POLITICO's questions about the incident 21 hours after first asked about it, said that Bachmann -- as her mother and two cousins told us -- had not attended the "big family reunion just North of Waterloo" that Bachmann cited as an excuse for turning up late to a GOP dinner in Waterloo. But she said Bachmann had met with other family members, and denied the candidate had contradicted herself.

“She was visiting with family. Her husband and daughters went to one reunion and she met with family members at a different location," Stewart told POLITICO's Molly Ball. "There was a family member that was a shut-in and other family members she met with privately elsewhere. I’m not going to tell you details of who and where she met. She was meeting with family members at a different location. There was more than one family reunion that weekend, more than one family reunion that day. Her husband and kids went to one and she met with family members elsewhere."