Bachmann to remain in presidential race despite 6th-place Iowa finish

Presidential+candidate+Michele+Bachmann+speaks+in+the+South%0ABallroom+of+the+Memorial+Union+on+Thursday%2C+Nov.+3.+She+advocate%0Atax+reform+and+is+against+wasteful+government+spending.%0A

Photo: Huiling Wu/Iowa State Daily

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann speaks in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union on Thursday, Nov. 3. She advocate tax reform and is against wasteful government spending.

Katelynn Mccollough

Michele Bachmann chose to continue to campaign for the next president of the United States after receiving 5 percent of the votes in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday.

Bachmann addressed her supporters at the West Des Moines Marriott with much of her family behind her.

“The people of Iowa have spoken,” said Bachmann, who called Iowa as her home state. “The process worked, it was the people of Iowa who chose tonight. It wasn’t the pundits, it wasn’t the media.”

Bachmann went on the attack toward President Barack Obama, stating her feelings on many of the government’s decisions in the past three years, while including her personal stance on the most notable issues of this election.

“This state has given voice to people all over our country that Barack Obama’s liberal policies are finished. And that in 2012 there will be another occupant in the White House, who knows, maybe even another Michele.”

Bachmann made it clear that she sees herself as a “real person, not a politician.” She also restated her position as a supporter of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution.

“The 2012 election might very well be our last opportunity to reclaim our liberty from a government that somehow seems bent from taking more and more of it away from us every day,” she said.

Bachmann mentioned the other Republican candidates only once, but compared herself as the nearest to Ronald Reagan. “What we need is a fearless conservative … I believe I am that true conservative who can and who will defeat Barack Obama.”

Steven Baker, a Bachmann supporter from Des Moines, felt that the congresswoman’s sixth-place showing in the caucuses was no reason to give up.

“I wouldn’t call it disappointed, I’m still encouraged,” Baker said, who feels that Bachmann could take South Carolina, but he is not as sure about New Hampshire.

Baker has no intentions of changing his mind on supporting Bachmann. “Until she says no, otherwise I hold the same convictions.”