Michele Bachmann Stays Firm on June Announcement
Michele Bachmann says she is going to wait until June to announce her decision on the 2012 race despite hints of an Iowa announcement Thursday.
Bachmann told the Des Moines Register that she is holding out to ensure she and her husband have time to properly plan.
"We want to make sure that what we are doing is deliberate and focused. We want to be prudent and responsible in the decisions that we are making," she said.
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Bachmann made the comments amid pressure from Iowans to announce during a planned appearance Thursday night at Polk County Republican Dinner and Reception, the Register reported.
A Wednesday morning YouTube message may have led supporters to believe the Minnesota congresswoman was ready to announce.
In the video she states, "My family and I are prayerfully considering what the next 18 months or so will bring." Bachmann notes that "the Team Bachmann momentum" is building and encouraging her as she considers her "next step."
Bachmann also said during a Fox News broadcast last week that Mike Huckabee's withdrawal from the 2012 race may speed up her own decision.
If she was considering announcing sooner, it seems she has now decided to put those plans on hold in the interest of "meeting the needs of our children and our family."
Bachmann is a mother of five children and 23 foster children.
Whether Bachmann is going to say yes to a 2012 presidential run is unclear. However, her comments confirm she is considering it as a possibility.
She told the Register, "This endeavor, running for president of the United States, is one of most momentous decisions any American can make, as you can well imagine ... We've tried to bring together the best minds to come up with the best plan."
If she does choose to enter the race, Bachmann will face stiff competition at the top. Polls put Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich at the top of the GOP race. Neither Romney nor Palin have announced yet whether they will run for the presidency.
Though Bachmann is largely unknown among voters, Gallup surveys, measuring the candidates' favorability, show that she is well-liked among those who do know her. She is the second most favorable candidate, just behind Herman Cain.
Her high favorability comes from Tea Partiers who notably selected her to give their party's state of the union address, and whose caucus she chairs in the House.
She has done her best to continue to stir them up them as she considers her decision.
After President Barack Obama announced his support for returning Israel and Palestine to the pre-war borders of 1967, Bachmann launched a new ad and microsite attacking him.
The ad reads, "Breaking: Obama betrays Israel. Tell Obama: Returning to 1967 borders is dangerous.
She also emphasizes Obama's failures on health care reform and Israel in her Wednesday video. Bachmann then praises the Tea Party for their enthusiasm saying, "You're busy spreading the truth" about Obama, and elicits them to fundraise for the cause.
There are speculations that Obama's campaign will likely spend over a billion dollars during his 2012 re-election bid. Anyone who runs against him will likely need all the money he or she can get.
Bachmann's favorability helped her raise more than $13.5 million in her last race, reported the Atlantic news. She reports that she has already been receiving contributions. Now, Bachmann is displaying a new urgency in her fundraising efforts.
She concluded her May 25 video by launching a "money bomb" effort to raise $240,000 in 24 hours.
