Michele Bachmann's 5th chief of staff, Ron Carey, is out

"When your captain's crazy, it's time to find a new ship," a GOP congressman said of Bachmann last year.

You'd think there'd be some rejoicing on Team Bachmann (and maybe there was) after she hauled in $1.7 million in campaign funds for the second quarter, and a new KSTP/SurbeyUSA poll showed her leading her Democratic opponent, Tarryl Clark, by 9 percentage points.

But the news broke yesterday that, for the fifth time in four years, Michele Bachmann is without a chief of staff: Ron Carey is out. He lasted just five months. On top of that, fundraising guru Zandra Wolcott has also jumped ship. No explanation was given for either departure.

"Congresswoman Michele Bachman thanks Ron Carey for his service to her and to the district and wishes him the best for his future," Rachel Horn, Bachmann's spokeswoman, said in a statement.

As for Wolcott, "It's just time to move on," she told Politico. "I have other things to do here in Minnesota."

Carey had replaced Michelle Marston, who helped engineer Bachman's anti-health care reform protest in Washington, D.C. last year -- the one where Sean Hannity was busted by Jon Stewart for bogus video inflating the size of the crowd. The one that cost taxpayers $14,000.

After Marston's departure, one GOP congressman said Bachmann was having a hard time holding on to staff because of her notorious verbal hand grenades and fact-challenged rhetoric.

"When your captain's crazy, it's time to find a new ship," the lawmaker said.

The churn started early in the congresswoman's career. Back in 2008 during her first term, Eric Black at MinnPost wrote:

The only people still working for Bachmann's office who were around in the first quarter of her term are in lower-level positions, handling phones, scheduling and grants.

Maybe her staffers are like her constituents.

"You either love Michele Bachmann or you don't love Michele Bachmann at all," Marston said in an interview with Politico in 2008.