Politics

Michele Bachmann ends presidential campaign after Iowa loss

Vince Coglianese Editorial Director
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In a Des Moines, Iowa press conference on Wednesday morning, Rep. Michele Bachmann confirmed she has ended her bid for the White House.

“Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice,” said Bachmann, “and so I have decided to stand aside.” (RELATED: Complete election coverage from TheDC)

Her announcement follows a difficult last place loss in the Iowa caucuses, where Bachmann had earlier exploded to front-runner status following her win in the August Ames Straw Poll.

Bachmann netted just 6,073 votes in her sixth place finish in the caucuses, amounting to 6 percent of the state’s participants.

Following the loss Tuesday night, Bachmann had promised to push on with her campaign, but by Wednesday morning had changed her mind.

Though the Minnesota congresswoman has bowed out, she used the announcement to re-emphasize the importance of defeating President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

“Entrusted to every American is the responsibility to look over our republic,” said Bachmann, before she entered into a passionate defense of her campaign’s existence, inspired by a desire to fully repeal Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. “President Obama and his socialist policies must be stopped,” she insisted.

Bachmann promised to continue to “fight” for her conservative ideals and insisted that conservative voters should rally behind the eventual Republican nominee.

“I believe we must rally behind the person” who Republican voters “decide to be a standard bearer,” said Bachmann.

Bachmann’s exit from the race comes on the heels of Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s Tuesday evening announcement that he would freeze his campaign activities to reassess his candidacy.  In a tweet released on Wednesday morning — at approximately the same moment Bachmann’s press conference began — Perry announced his apparent decision to push forward with his campaign into South Carolina.

“And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State…Here we come South Carolina!!! http://yfrog.com/odz8ujrj,” tweeted @GovernorPerry.

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