Michele Bachmann's former campaign manager says she doesn't have the "ability" or "resources" to go beyond the Iowa presidential caucuses.

Ed Rollins, who recently stepped down as the day-to-day chief of Bachmann's campaign, told MSNBC that the Minnesota congresswoman can get "another look" by voters if she can win the nation's first presidential caucuses in Iowa, where Bachmann was born.

STORY: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll

"She doesn't have the ability or the resources to go beyond that," Rollins said in the MSNBC interview.

Rollins suggested some of Bachmann's missteps -- such as making a link between mental retardation and the HPV vaccine -- have come from inadequate vetting by her campaign and from her lack of experience on the national stage.

Unlike Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, Rollins noted, Bachmann has not run in a statewide race and previously has run only in her Minnesota congressional or legislative districts.

Rollins, a veteran strategist who ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign, said the latest public opinion polls on the GOP presidential race show it is essentially coming down to a battle between Perry and Romney.