Michele Bachmann emerged as the GOP presidential frontrunner this past weekend, thanks to her first-place finish in the Iowa straw poll. So how did she pull it off? As Stephen Colbert explained on tonight's Report, it wasn't her charisma—or the Randy Travis concert inside her tent—that gave Bachmann the edge in Ames. But the 6,000 voting tickets she bought and then handed out to supporters may have had something to do with it. Video of Colbert's segment is above.

Well holy prize-winning cow: Minnesota Congresswoman and downgrade instigator Michele Bachmann did it, she won the GOP straw poll in Iowa. Time to fry up your butter stix and celebrate/beckon death's call!

The Ames Straw Poll this Saturday will gauge what Iowa Republicans think of the field of GOP presidential candidates, but there's a twist planned this year! For the first time, organizers are allowing write-in votes for as-of-yet undeclared candidates, like hard-praying Texas Gov. Rick Perry. This won't change the fact the poll is a pretty meaningless exercise. Unless, that is, Perry megafan Stephen Colbert and his freshly funded Super PAC have anything to do with it, as he explained on tonight's Report.