Fresh off her victory in the Iowa Straw Poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann said today that they have a broader appeal than a Tea Party and social conservative base, and that they can on a national stage to compete with other Republican candidates and President Barack Obama .
"Everywhere I went, very Iowa, there is not an event that I do not think I did not get people who say" Michele, I am a democrat, and I vote for you, "I'm an independent and I vote for you, "Bachmann said on" This Week. "" And I think it's because I'm talking about what people really, and that is turning the economy around and creating jobs.
"I think what people see in me that I am a real person. I'm authentic," said Bachmann. "And they want someone who goes to Washington and represent their values. ... That's really what you saw here in Iowa at the straw poll yesterday. You saw a great message to Washington. "
Bachmann took the first place Saturday in the straw poll, with 28 percent of the nearly 17,000 votes cast. That was enough to close challenger Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who finished with 27 percent of the vote to defeat.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third at 13 percent, more than 2,500 votes behind Bachmann, making him drop out of the race. Bachmann wanted Pawlenty well, he said a "very good competitor."
"I have great respect for the governor," said Bachmann. "We have known each other for a long, long time. He brought a very important voice in this race."
The straw poll is an early test of organizational strength and voter support, and since 1987, the first or second place finisher has gone on to win the Iowa Caucus. Bachmann said her campaign will try to build on the victory to move ahead as a national campaign.
"I think every day the future we will look at what happens to the strategy to take, but our main strategy is to win. Obama is my strategy," said Bachmann. "I plan to the candidate of the Republican party and admit him and to defeat him in 2012."
While Bachmann was winning the Iowa faithful, a new challenger, Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced his arrival in the presidential race Saturday in a speech in Charleston, SC
Despite just entering the race, Perry garnered 718 write-in votes in the Ames Straw Poll, making him the sixth place, ahead of GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, who does not campaign in the race.
Perry and Bachmann called on some of the same basic social conservative and Tea Party voters, but Bachmann said she will be able to compete with the two-term governor, said she has "been in Washington fighting the battles' on issues such as the debt ceiling and repealing Obama's health care law.
"I think that's what I've shown is that I have a core set of principles I believe in. I will fight for them," said Bachmann. "That's what we need in a President of the United States, as a president is more than just a manager. What they actually bring to bear is leadership.
"He will run his own race, and he has his own message. I have mine," she said. "On the national stage, I have been involved in all these issues and will continue."
Pawlenty had Bachmann questioned the lack of managerial experience in the last campaign events, calling her record in Congress "nonexistent".
"There is no requirement in the Constitution that a governor to go into public service," said Bachmann. "As a governor and governor-level experience is not the number one requirement."
Bachmann defended its recent opposition to raising the debt ceiling, after criticism Saturday of presidential candidate and former Senator Rick Santorum, who called her opposition "scandalous" because it would have to cut more than 40 percent of government funding a matter of months.
"What is outrageous transforms us into the biggest debtor in the history of the world," said Bachmann. "No country has ever in debt to the level we are. ... We have our house in order."
To control spending, Bachmann said that significant reforms to the big entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare should happen immediately.
"Medicare, Medicaid, they must be replaced. Why should we continue with this program to be run the way we did 45 years ago?" Bachmann said. "Systems have changed. We can be much more efficient than what they are."
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