{"id":11073,"date":"2012-01-04T19:18:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T00:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=11073"},"modified":"2012-01-04T19:18:05","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T00:18:05","slug":"michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html","title":{"rendered":"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rep. Michele Bachmann suspended her presidential campaign after placing sixth in Tuesday\u2019s Iowa Republican caucuses, she announced today.<\/h1>\n
\n
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Michele Bachmann, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 6th district Incumbent Assumed office January 3, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLast night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,\u201d Bachmann said at a news conference, flanked by her parents, husband and five children. \u201cI have\u00a0no regrets, none whatsoever. We never compromised our principles and we can leave this race knowing we ran it with the utmost integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bachmann said she will continue to fight the policies of President Obama, particularly his health care legislation, calling the 2012 election \u201cthe last chance to turn our country around, before we go down the road of socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was motivated to stop Obama and not by a thirst for power. \u201cThough I\u2019m a congresswoman by title, a politician I\u2019ve never been. \u2026 I\u2019m not motivated by\u00a0vanity, glory or the quest for power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bachmann had staked her candidacy on Iowa, the state in which she was born and raised. In September, campaign manager Keith Nahigian called Iowa a \u201cmust win\u201d state.<\/p>\n

Bachmann placed last\u00a0out of the six candidates competing here in Tuesday\u2019s first-in-the-nation caucuses, receiving only 5 percent of the vote and losing in Waterloo, the town where she was born.<\/p>\n

Iowa became the backdrop of her presidential bid when in June she\u00a0announced her candidacy<\/a>\u00a0in her hometown of Waterloo.<\/p>\n

It became the springboard for her stint, albeit short-lived, as the GOP front-runner after she secured the top spot at the\u00a0Ames Straw Poll<\/a>\u00a0in August.<\/p>\n

And today it became the insurmountable hurdle that ended her run for the White House after she finished dead last among the GOP candidates competing in the Iowa caucuses.<\/p>\n

Bachmann, a three-term congresswoman from Minnesota, emerged on the national political scene riding the wave of Tea Party activism. As the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, Bachmann\u2019s socially conservative, family-oriented approach initially captured the support of staunch conservatives and evangelical Christians.<\/p>\n

Bachmann, 55,\u00a0has five children of her own and has taken in 23 foster children.<\/p>\n

She supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman and opposes abortion under any circumstances. She came under fire in June after a gay patient treated at the Christian counseling center<\/a>\u00a0Bachmann and her husband own told ABC News that the clinic tried to \u201cpray the gay away\u201d using so-called reparative therapy.<\/p>\n

She also took some heat after implying that the\u00a0HPV vaccine<\/a>, which rival candidate Rick Perry mandated as Texas governor, could cause mental retardation in young girls, a claim the American Academy of Pediatrics\u00a0said had \u201cabsolutely no scientific validity.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to the economy, which the majority of voters say is their No. 1 issue this cycle, Bachmann touts her experience as a \u201cfederal tax litigation attorney,\u201d a.k.a. tax evasion prosecutor for the IRS.<\/p>\n

Her tax code tag line is often that every American should pay at least some income taxes, rather than just 47 percent who currently pay them. Bachmann says that broadening the tax base will pay for tax breaks for high-income earners.<\/p>\n

Bachmann\u2019s 11-point jobs and tax proposal, the \u201cAmerican Jobs, Right Now\u201d blueprint, also calls for ending taxes on repatriated profits and expanding domestic energy production.<\/p>\n

She claimed that Texas Gov. Rick Perry\u2019s flat-tax plan, which he announced in October, is an \u201cimitation\u201d of her plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cImitation is the sincerest form of flattery; thank you Gov. Perry for using my ideas for your tax plan,\u201d Bachmann posted on her Facebook wall shortly after Perry announced his plan.<\/p>\n

After a similarly poor showing at the Iowa caucuses, Perry said Tuesday night that\u00a0he will take a few days off to \u201cdetermine if there is a path forward\u00a0for myself in this race.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Wednesday morning, as Bachmann was announcing the end of her campaign, Perry hinted on Twitter that he will\u00a0stay the course through South Carolina.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State,\u201d Perry tweeted today. \u201cHere we come South Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more and video at:\u00a0http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/blogs\/politics\/2012\/01\/bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Michele Bachmann suspended her presidential campaign after placing sixth in Tuesday\u2019s Iowa Republican caucuses, she announced today. \u201cLast night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,\u201d Bachmann said at a news conference, flanked by her parents, husband and five children. \u201cI have\u00a0no regrets, none…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,252,1331,463,1430,450,678,108,875,101,596],"tags":[3921,883],"class_list":["post-11073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18","category-christian","category-conservative","category-elections","category-news-2","category-politics","category-presidential-candidates","category-religion","category-republicans","category-tea-party","category-women","tag-iowa-republican-caususes","tag-michele-bachmann"],"yoast_head":"\nMichele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rep. Michele Bachmann suspended her presidential campaign after placing sixth in Tuesday\u2019s Iowa Republican caucuses, she announced today. \u201cLast night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,\u201d Bachmann said at a news conference, flanked by her parents, husband and five children. \u201cI have\u00a0no regrets, none…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-05T00:18:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Bachmann2011.jpg\/220px-Bachmann2011.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Calvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race - Watchwoman on the Wall","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race - Watchwoman on the Wall","og_description":"Rep. Michele Bachmann suspended her presidential campaign after placing sixth in Tuesday\u2019s Iowa Republican caucuses, she announced today. \u201cLast night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,\u201d Bachmann said at a news conference, flanked by her parents, husband and five children. \u201cI have\u00a0no regrets, none…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html","og_site_name":"Watchwoman on the Wall","article_published_time":"2012-01-05T00:18:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Bachmann2011.jpg\/220px-Bachmann2011.jpg"}],"author":"Donna Calvin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html","name":"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race - Watchwoman on the Wall","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Bachmann2011.jpg\/220px-Bachmann2011.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-05T00:18:05+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-05T00:18:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/#\/schema\/person\/1470e1ef6765f8a27f970307b0835df1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Bachmann2011.jpg\/220px-Bachmann2011.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Bachmann2011.jpg\/220px-Bachmann2011.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2012\/01\/michele-bachmann-drops-out-of-presidential-race.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/","name":"Watchwoman on the Wall","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Donna Calvin","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/#\/schema\/person\/1470e1ef6765f8a27f970307b0835df1","name":"Donna Calvin","description":"In sixth grade my teacher told us that we were going to be the first generation to see the year 2000 and all things would be different. 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