Can "tact" be used to replace "tack"?

Fellow Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota took a similar tact as she spoke at the rally.

I believe the CNN writer meant to use the word 'tack' like in the phrase ‘take a different tack’.

Would the sentence also be correct using tact since the word can mean ‘dealing with difficult situations’?

Solution 1:

The terms are often confused, probably for the fact that some people think that tact is a short for tactic (which is similar to tack):

• Tact is sensitivity in social situations. A tack is a course or an approach (the word has nautical origins). When switching courses or taking a different approach, one changes tack, not tact.

• Tact often appears in place of tack. Presumably some people think of it as short for tactic, which is synonymous with tack in some contexts. This is understandable given how rare tack is, but tact is not conventionally short for tactic, and, fairly or not, phrases like change tact are generally considered wrong by people who pay attention to these things.

The Grammarist

Tact and tack (often confused words).