29 Dec 2011

US presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman has resigned and endorsed rival Ron Paul, six days before Iowa voters begin the nomination process to select the 2012 Republican nominee.

Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator who had served as Bachmann’s state campaign chairman for nearly a year, said he had decided to switch his support to Paul because the campaign had reached “a turning point.”

“When the Republican establishment is going to be coming after Ron Paul, I thought it is my duty to come to his aid,” Mr Sorenson said, announcing his endorsement for the Texas congressman during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Mr Sorenson said in a statement that Mr Paul was “easily the most conservative” member of the top tier in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in elections in November next year.

“The fact that he doesn’t take this decision lightly tells a great deal about the senator and Ron Paul,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s national campaign chair.

Mr Paul has a strong organisation in the early voting state and is one of the favourites to win the Iowa caucuses vote on January 3.

Bachmann Loses Iowa Campaign Chairman to Paul.

29 Dec 2011

Tom Beaumont, Beth Fouhy and Philip Elliott

Michele Bachmann’s struggling presidential campaign saw her Iowa chairman defect Wednesday to rival Ron Paul’s side, an embarrassing blow that came as some called for her to leave the race to free up her supporters for other candidates.

Hours after appearing with Bachmann at an event, state Sen. Kent Sorenson gave his endorsement to the Texas congressman at a Des Moines rally. Sorenson said he resigned from Bachmann’s campaign to back Paul, whom he called the most conservative of the top-tier candidates.

Bachmann said Sorenson made the jump after “he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign.”

“Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I,’” Bachmann said in a written statement. “Then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions.”

Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton said the campaign was not paying Sorenson and that he was puzzled why Bachmann would make such a claim against an elected official popular with Iowa conservatives.

“We’ve always known Michele to be an honorable person. She should stop slandering an honorable Iowa state senator,” Benton said.

Benton said Paul campaign officials had been begun speaking to Sorenson “in earnest” in the last few days, and that he had informed the campaign Wednesday he was ready to sign on.

Sorenson announced the switch during a Paul veterans rally in Des Moines. He didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press to address Bachmann’s charges that the move was financially based.

“The fact is, there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group,” Sorenson said in a statement. “The truth is, it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign.”

Susan Geddes, a veteran operative in conservative GOP political circles who managed Sorenson’s 2008 and 2010 legislative races, said Sorenson had told her several times, as recently as last month, that the Paul campaign had offered him money to leave Bachmann’s campaign for the Texas congressman’s.

Geddes said Sorenson had damaged his political future in Iowa by abandoning Bachmann’s campaign less than a week before the caucuses.

“He just committed political suicide,” she said.

Bachmann has been on a frantic 99-county push across Iowa in an effort to recover from the slide that followed her Iowa straw poll victory in August. Paul was a close second in that contest.

Earlier in the day, two influential pastors said they wanted either her or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to drop out of the running to keep evangelical voters from splitting their support. Bachmann insisted she would see the Iowa caucus campaign through.

Sorenson, who has strong ties to Iowa’s tea party, was one of Bachmann’s earliest public supporters and joined her for an afternoon stop at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Indianola. Standing by her side, he declined to speak to the crowd there, citing numbness from dental work.

All day, Bachmann bashed Paul as “dangerous” for having a hands-off foreign policy. It was part of a double-barreled attack on the two Texans in the race. She went after Gov. Rick Perry for “27 years as a political insider.”

The aggressive tone underscored Bachmann’s role as a chaser in the final week of campaigning. She has bet heavily on Iowa, where she was born.

Bachmann came hardest at Perry, who this week began a television ad lumping Bachmann with other Washington figures seeking the GOP nomination in his attempt to come off as the outsider in the race.

“Just because he’s held office outside of Washington, D.C., does not mean he is not a political insider. It’s what you do in your office that matters,” she said outside a small-town cafe. “There aren’t very many politicians who have spent more time paying off political donors than Gov. Rick Perry has.”

Perry has served Texas as a legislator, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor and governor.

Bachmann also said Perry has engaged in “crony capitalism” by helping donors with Texas government contracts or giving them political appointments. And she called Perry a double-dipper for collecting his gubernatorial salary and state pension at the same time.

Campaigning in Indianola on Wednesday, Perry scored what appeared to be a double hit of his own. Although he didn’t name his targets, he took aim at lawmakers who sound off in Washington without much influence on policy — a rap sometimes attached to Bachmann and Paul.

“Some campaigns are about their voting record, on bills that never make it to the president’s desk. I’m campaigning on ideas that I’ve signed into law,” Perry said.

As for Paul, Bachmann criticized him as misguided about foreign threats to U.S. interests.

“Ron Paul would be a dangerous president,” Perry said. “He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I won’t. He would wait until one of our cities is wiped off of the map until he reacted. I won’t wait.”

On Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told CNN that he would find it personally difficult to vote for Paul if the Texas congressman were to become the party’s choice to go up against President Barack Obama next fall. Bachmann refused to go that far, dodging two direct questions about her willingness to back Paul later on.

“He won’t win the nomination,” she said.

At stop after stop, Bachmann cast herself as America’s “Iron Lady,” the nickname assigned to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Bachmann sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which she said gives her a firm grip on world affairs.

State Sen. Brad Zaun, who had been Bachmann’s Iowa co-chairman, was named full chairman after Sorenson’s resignation.

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON

August 29, 2011

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Sunday that she would consider oil and natural gas drilling in the Everglades if it can be done without harming the environment.

Bachman said the United States needs to tap into all of its energy resources no matter where they exist if it can be done responsibly.

“The United States needs to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy and more dependent upon American resourcefulness. Whether that is in the Everglades, or whether that is in the eastern Gulf region, or whether that’s in North Dakota, we need to go where the energy is,” she said. “Of course it needs to be done responsibly. If we can’t responsibly access energy in the Everglades then we shouldn’t do it.”

In 2002, the federal government at the urging of President George W. Bush bought back oil and gas drilling rights in the Everglades for $120 million. Bachmann, who wants to get rid of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said she would rely on experts to determine whether drilling can be done without harming the environment.

“No one wants to hurt or contaminate the earth. … We don’t want to harm our water, our ecosystems or the air. That is a minimum bar,” she said.

“From there, though, that doesn’t mean that the two have to be mutually exclusive. We can protect the environment and do so responsibly, but we can also protect the environment and not kill jobs in America and not deny ourselves access to the energy resources that America’s been so blessed with.”

The Minnesota congresswoman, who is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012, is on a four-day swing through Florida, ending Monday in Miami.

At each stop she has said she wants to eliminate the “job-killing” EPA. She elaborated on the idea in an interview after rallying hundreds of enthusiastic supporters in Sarasota.

“We do have EPA’s in each of the 50 states and I think that it’s up to the states,” she said. “The states have the right to develop their own environmental protections and regulations, as they all have.”

She said she recognizes there is a federal role when environmental issues cross borders, but she added that a big problem with the EPA now is that it does not consider job creation or job losses as part of its role in enforcing regulations. She said the regulations it does have prevent businesses from being able to reasonably create a profit.

“If we create a new department that is focused on conservation and get rid of the EPA, that would send a strong signal about what our priorities are. We believe in conservation, but I also believe at the same time that the EPA has overstepped its bounds,” Bachmann said.

Among other topics, Bachmann said the stock market drop after this summer’s debt ceiling compromise demonstrated disappointment that Washington had not taken more significant steps to reduce spending.

“We need to get our house in order fairly quickly,” she said. “What you saw with the markets was the markets reacting to the fact that Washington, D.C., did nothing to get its house in order.”

She also said she would consider Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who took office earlier this year, as a running mate.

“Marco Rubio has the hallmarks of, I think, everything that a person would look for in a potential candidate. He’s got so much going for him,” Bachmann said, also naming South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint as another possibility.

3rd July 2011

A Republican Presidential hopeful who takes a heavily branded bus across the countryside, stopping off to meet the people, and even to admire a man’s tattoo.

Sound familiar?

Only this time, it isn’t Sarah Palin in the self-made spotlight, it’s Michele Bachmann.

The Republican Presidential candidate spent Saturday shaking hands in Iowa diners and strolling through a bustling farmers’ market as she tried to capitalize on her early popularity in the state that kicks off the campaign season.

An Iowa native, the tea party favourite ranked nearly even with GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney in a recent poll of Republicans likely to participate in the state’s lead off caucuses next year.

But just six weeks before the state’s closely watched straw poll, the Minnesota congresswoman has done little to campaign or set up an organization here.

Beginning her first sustained campaign trip to Iowa as an announced candidate, Ms Bachmann introduced herself to audiences from Iowa City to Des Moines in a new campaign bus emblazoned with her name.

She spent much of Saturday posing for pictures and signing autographs rather than in meetings with key GOP activists.

After meeting about 100 supporters and politically curious Iowans at a stop in Marshalltown, Ms Bachmann told The Associated Press: ‘I have every confidence our team is going to deliver.

‘I am going to be here in Iowa campaigning all through July’.

In Iowa City, Ms Bachmann met about 100 weekend breakfast regulars and Republican activists at the Bluebird Diner near the University of Iowa.

Local resident Sheila Reiland told Ms Bachmann’s campaign chairman in the crowded diner that she signed up last week on Bachmann’s website to volunteer but had heard nothing from any campaign staff.

Ms Reiland, a registered nurse who went to Washington, D.C., this year to attend a health care rally Bachmann headlined, said: ‘She is my candidate, and I want to do what I can to help her. But I haven’t heard anything back’.

Ms Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, acknowledged having a lot to do in a short time since the Iowa Legislature was in session until Thursday.

But he told Ms Reiland: ‘You will be hearing from us’.

Ms Bachmann met privately aboard her campaign bus with activists en route from Cedar Rapids, where she strolled through the city’s crowded downtown farmers’ market, to Marshalltown about 70 miles west.

She also planned to meet with GOP activists Saturday evening in Des Moines after headlining a tea party rally.

But her trip, which continues Sunday in western Iowa, was more about raising her name identification around the state, Mr Sorenson said.

Ms Bachmann had been weighing a presidential bid since January but only began raising money toward a campaign in June. On Saturday, she dismissed claims that she was scrambling to get organized in Iowa.

Ms Bachmann said she had been laying the groundwork for her Iowa campaign since last month, before she officially announced her White House bid last week in her childhood home of Waterloo, Iowa.

In Marshalltown, campaign aides handed out supporter cards outside Taylor’s Maid-Rite, a popular downtown lunch spot where about 100 people met Bachmann’s bus. Standing on a platform next to the bus in the afternoon sun, Ms Bachmann asked residents for support.

She said: ‘We need your help at the straw poll. Will you come out and help me? We’ll bring around the buses. We’ll pick you up, whatever you need. We’ll get you down there’.

‘We need your help because winning back the White House begins in Iowa’.

Ms Bachmann stopped short of saying she expected to win the straw poll, an early organizational test of support that draws thousands of Iowa Republican faithful – and a heavy contingent of national political media – to Iowa State University in Ames on August 13.

But Ms Bachmann said she hopes her close second-place showing to national GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney in The Des Moines Register’s recent poll of Iowa Republican caucusgoers makes her the favourite for the event.

Ms Bachmann plans to return to Iowa next week, aides said.

David Harris of Marshalltown was signing his supporter card and said he planned to go to Ames for the straw poll. The Republican said he had not participated in the caucuses for more than a decade, but said he was drawn to Ms Bachmann’s popularity with tea party supporters.

Mr Harris said: ‘She has an energy that’s stirring the grassroots, people like me who have not been part of politics for a while’.

By LAUREN VANCE

June 26, 2011

Her website says, “It all Begins in Iowa,” and Rep. Michele Bachmann is set to start campaigning for the United States presidency Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, where she was born.

Bachmann, R-Minn., informally announced her bid two weeks ago at the first Republican debate in New Hampshire.

“I filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the United States,” she said.

But Tuesday’s stop is where she is expected to make her candidacy more formal, to start campaigning, and to tie in her Iowa roots and her faith, issues that could resonate with voters in Hawkeye State.

Because it traditionally holds nation’s first caucuses of presidential primary seasons, Iowa has been viewed as critical for primary candidates — though the eventual 2008 Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, made few visits to the state during his primary campaign.

For Bachmann, a candidate with strong Tea Party support, showering Iowans with attention could prove more worthwhile. Tea Party groups claim to be strong in areas such as Des Moines, Dubuque, the Quad Cities, Cedar Falls, southern Iowa and Spencer.

Today, Bachmann, a self-professed religious conservative, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that she, “got the sense from God to run for office.”

On “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked Bachmann, “Are you a flake?” She responded, “I think that would be insulting to say something like that, because I’m a serious person.”

Asked if the campaign believed Wallace’s question was sexist, or if the same line of inquiry would be put to one of the male candidate’s, Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart told ABC News “It was an insulting question all around.”

Bachmann’s campaign kickoff will come days after a new Des Moines Register Iowa poll placed her a close second among Republican candidates to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 23 percent to 22 percent, well within the margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

The Iowa Poll’s results are based on telephone interviews with 400 likely Republican Iowa caucus-goers from June 19 to 22. Nearly half of the poll respondents, 46 percent, identified as born-again or fundamentalist Christian, the Des Moines Register reported.

“Michele Bachmann has always looked like a fit for Iowa on paper, and the debate likely helped solidify her standing,” pollster J. Ann Seltzer told the Register. “This poll confirms she has potential to do very well here.”

Bachmann’s fundraising is in line with her Republican primary opponents. She broke records when she was able to raise a surprising $13.5 million for her 2010 House race, an amount more than any other House member.

Bachmann portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, but an examination conducted by The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday, “a counseling clinic run by her husband received $30,000 from the state of Minnesota in the last five years, with part of the money coming from the federal government.”

Stewart J Lawrence

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Mitt Romney emerged well from the GOP’s New Hampshire ‘group hug’, but Michele Bachmann upstaged them all.

It wasn’t a political debate – it was a “love-in”. And if you’re former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, desperate for an opening against GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, sometimes too much love can be bad for you.

Despite the predictions of some, myself included, that the second Republican presidential debate of the 2012 campaign season might degenerate into a brawl, all seven GOP candidates were unusually civil to each other during Monday evening’s two-hour debate. The fact that CNN, the network widely thought of by most Americans as mainstream and boring, but authoritative – but by the American right as “left-wing” – sponsored the event, partly explains the respect that candidates who’ve swung freely and sharply at each other in the past demonstrated. The setting was significant: broadcast live from St Anselm University in Manchester, New Hampshire – the state that holds the first GOP primary contest just eight months from now.

For a party often appearing in the “lamestream” media – to conservative chagrin – to be at war with itself, the show of unity could be judged a huge success for the GOP. None of the candidates made a single, truly embarrassing gaffe, and for nearly two hours, before a friendly studio audience arranged in something resembling a “Town Hall” setting, they issued rosy and largely uncontested nostrums on the virtues of the unrestrained free market and the evils of “big government”.

“Dismantle EPA,” Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann cried, saying it was killing job growth with pesky, overstated concerns about polluted air and water. Added Newt Gingrich: “Defund the National Labour Relations Board,” citing the Obama administration regulator’s recent decision to disrupt a new Boeing plant’s operations that would have provided badly-needed – but, of course, non-union – jobs to 8,000 workers in South Carolina, which is a so-called “right-to-work state”. And so it went, with one candidate after another demanding to know why Obama and the Democrats refused to take their oppressive jackboot off the necks of the private sector.

It took almost an hour after the debate for anyone – in this case, Robert Gibbs, Obama’s former press secretary – to appear on camera to try to knock down some of the more extreme claims of the candidates, and to suggest that many of the policies they were advocating were precisely the ones that had helped get the country in its current economic mess to begin with.

But the fact is, the national zeitgeist is shifting – if not yet clearly in the right’s favour, still clearly away from the Democrats and Obama; and even Gibbs knows it. Yes, the big stimulus and bank bailout was necessary – even entrepreneur Herman Cain grudgingly admitted that – but the economy is still in the tank, and joblessness, which just about everyone had promised would be trending down by now, has stayed stubbornly high. Many other economic indicators – new housing starts, home foreclosures, the GDP growth rate, and rising oil and gas prices, to name just a few – are just as bad.

Perhaps the most decisive moment in the debate, if there was a one, came when former Tim Pawlenty declined to reiterate his tough criticism of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for passing a healthcare reform programme that so closely resembles “Obamacare” that President Obama himself freely cites Romney’s legislation as a template. As late as Sunday, Pawlenty was still trying to savage Romney on the talk shows, adding his own coinage to the debate, “Obamneycare”, to explain why his chief GOP rival was no better than the current president.

But perhaps sensing that attacking Romney in a Romney-friendly state was unwise, especially this early in the campaign, Pawlenty dissembled, and the debate moved on – never to return to the awkward issue of whether Romney is a dreaded Rino – a “Republican in name only”. The very same dodge occurred on Romney’s social issues record, which more than any other policy area perhaps, has made Romney look like a “flip-flopper” (he once supported abortion rights, for instance, but now says he’s “pro-life”). Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to “authenticity” as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.

So who won the debate? Two people did. One was clearly Romney, who managed to stare down Pawlenty. Apart from a strong statement on Americans in uniform, inspired by a questioner who was a veteran, Pawlenty by contrast looked every bit the wimp he’s been accused of being. If there was any hint of “fire in his belly”, then Monday’s group hug effectively extinguished it. And so Romney emerged as primus inter pares.

The other big winner was Michele Bachmann, who far exceeded everyone’s low expectations for her – and her showing may well have knocked Palin out of the race (assuming she’s still considering running). Bachmann flagged up her experience as a tax attorney and her little-known seat on the House intelligence committee to give clear, and at times, even compelling arguments for why the US shouldn’t in Libya and why the corporate tax rate should be cut. She was the only one of the candidates to establish some rapport with the audience, and earned the most sustained applause, including when she formally announced her candidacy early on.

She is clearly on her way to becoming the primary pole of attraction for Republican base voters seeking a more well-spoken, policy-wise candidate than Palin to replace the genial Mike Huckabee. If this was her first real debut before a mass audience – polls show that more than 60% of voters haven’t heard of her – she did very well indeed. Bachmann’s big night out may turn out to be enduring story of this first GOP debate.

BRIAN BAKST

Monday, Jun. 13, 2011

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an outspoken Republican with close ties to the tea party, announced Monday that she is running for president, a candidacy that could further shake up a volatile fight for the GOP nomination.

The first female contender to enter the 2012 race, Ms. Bachmann announced her bid during a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. The third-term Minnesota congresswoman has been leaning heavily toward a run over the past few months, visiting early primary states, raising money and railing against President Barack Obama.

“Our country needs a leader who understands the hardships that people across America have been facing over the past few years, and who will do what it takes to renew the American dream. We must become a strong and proud America again, and I see clearly a better path to a brighter future,” Ms. Bachmann said in a statement issued through her new campaign.

She brings high energy, charisma and proven fundraising ability to the Republican race to nominate a challenger to Mr. Obama. She also is known for unyielding stances, biting commentary and high-profile gaffes.

Ms. Bachmann is attempting the rare leap from the U.S. House to the presidency.

Despite having low seniority and few policy accomplishments, she has risen to prominence in Washington in part by her frequent television appearances and willingness to attack Mr. Obama in sharp terms.

Her popularity with tea party activists and her credentials as a social conservative make her a credible threat to other candidates courting conservatives who make up the core of the Republican Party. Her impact may be felt most in Iowa, the first stop in the nomination battle where Christian evangelicals dominate.

While she hasn’t built the broad campaign infrastructure of some GOP rivals, she has gradually patched together a blend of tested and fresh-but-determined advisers. She’s also shown an ability to raise money from a network of small-dollar donors, including $13.5-million she put toward the nation’s most expensive House race of 2010.

Ms. Bachmann spent the bulk of her political career in Minnesota and Washington as a minority party member, revelling in her role as a fierce voice of the opposition. She didn’t let up when Republicans gained control of the U.S. House last fall, enhancing her standing through public breaks with party leaders after she was denied a place in caucus leadership.

The camera-friendly congresswoman has irked some party leaders by grabbing at the spotlight, such as the alternate televised response she delivered to Mr. Obama’s State of the Union speech this winter.

Her willingness to speak her mind — she once accused Mr. Obama of running a “gangster government” — has brought her both loyal fans and plenty of critics.

Since first hinting at a presidential campaign ahead of an Iowa speech in January, she has made sustained trips there and to New Hampshire and South Carolina, all places with an outsized voice in the nominating process. She previously told reporters she would announce her intentions this month in her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa.

Other full-fledged candidates include former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and businessman Herman Cain.

Still a possibility is Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. Palin assisted Ms. Bachmann in her 2010 race. And while the two deny any inherent rivalry, the potential they may both run in 2012 has already stirred up such talk.

Ms. Bachmann, 55, enters as a definite factor in Iowa’s caucuses, not just because it is her native state and now neighbour. Despite her status as an elected official, she is attractive to GOP activists looking for a candidate with outsider appeal. She particularly resonates with the conservative coalition that led former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to a 2008 caucus win.

She has vigorously courted evangelical pastors during her early trips to Iowa. Ms. Bachmann has also landed the support of up-and-coming GOP players, including state Sen. Kent Sorenson, an ardent social conservative.

Mr. Sorenson is lined up to run Ms. Bachmann’s Iowa campaign. Ms. Bachmann has also signed a former top deputy to Mr. Huckabee’s 2008 Iowa campaign. However, it’s not clear whether those hires and Ms. Bachmann’s popularity with this segment of the caucus electorate would necessarily translate into organizational strength.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s decision to bypass the Iowa GOP’s presidential straw poll in Ames gives Ms. Bachmann a stronger chance for a breakthrough moment a couple of months out of the gate.

Before politics, Ms. Bachmann was an attorney who at one point chased tax cheats for the federal government. A mother of five and foster parent over the years to more than 20 girls, Ms. Bachmann dove into public life during a fight over Minnesota school standards. She spent six years in the Minnesota Senate before winning an open seat Congress, where she’s been since 2007.

Ms. Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, runs a Christian-based counselling clinic.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an outspoken Republican with close ties to the U.S. Tea Party movement, announced Monday that she running for president, a candidacy that could further shake up a volatile fight for the Republican nomination.

The first woman to enter the 2012 race, Bachmann announced her bid during a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire.

The third-term Minnesota congresswoman has been leaning heavily toward a run over the past few months, visiting early primary states, raising money and railing against U.S. President Barack Obama.

“Our country needs a leader who understands the hardships that people across America have been facing over the past few years, and who will do what it takes to renew the American dream. We must become a strong and proud America again, and I see clearly a better path to a brighter future,” Bachmann said in a statement issued through her new campaign.

She brings high energy, charisma and proven fundraising ability to the Republican race to nominate a challenger to Obama. She also is known for unyielding stances, biting commentary and high-profile gaffes.

Bachmann is attempting the rare leap from the U.S. House to the presidency.

Despite having low seniority and few policy accomplishments, she has risen to prominence in Washington in part by her frequent television appearances and willingness to attack Obama in sharp terms.

Threat to other candidates

Her popularity with Tea Party activists and her credentials as a social conservative make her a credible threat to other candidates courting conservatives who make up the core of the Republican Party. Her impact may be felt most in Iowa, the first stop in the nomination battle where Christian evangelicals dominate.

While she hasn’t built the broad campaign infrastructure of some Republican rivals, she has gradually patched together a blend of tested and fresh-but-determined advisers. She’s also shown an ability to raise money from a network of small-dollar donors, including $13.5 million she put toward the nation’s most expensive House race of 2010.

Bachmann spent the bulk of her political career in Minnesota and Washington as a minority party member, revelling in her role as a fierce voice of the opposition. She didn’t let up when Republicans gained control of the U.S. House last fall, enhancing her standing through public breaks with party leaders after she was denied a place in caucus leadership.

The congresswoman has irked some party leaders by grabbing at the spotlight, such as the alternate televised response she delivered to Obama’s State of the Union speech this winter.

Her willingness to speak her mind — she once accused Obama of running a “gangster government” — has brought her both loyal fans and plenty of critics.

Since first hinting at a presidential campaign ahead of an Iowa speech in January, she has made sustained trips there and to New Hampshire and South Carolina, all places with an outsized voice in the nominating process. She previously told reporters she would announce her intentions this month in her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa.