KWQC - Presidential Candidate Profile: Michele Bachmann

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By Unknown

Michele Bachmann started out strong, winning the Iowa Straw Poll. But since then, she's been struggling in the polls. So what is she really like? Most agree she's outspoken.

"There telling me Obama care is leading to them not to create jobs." said Bachmann on a campaign stop.

She's controversial.

"The executive director of Planned Parenthood in Illinois said they want to become the lens crafter of abortion in Illinois," said Bachmann.

She is unmistakably conservative.

"The family is the foundational unit of this country."

It is her fervent belief in traditional values that make her popular with so many in the right wing of the Republican party. Its what propelled her to a victory at the Ames Straw Poll in August. But the last several months have resulted in her losing support - first to Rick Perry and now to Herman Cain. So when we sat down with her during a recent visit to the Quad City area, we asked her how she has handled the ups and the downs of her campaign.

"This election has really mirrored what's going on Wall Street where stocks are going up and down and that's the way its been for the candidates. None of the candidates has stayed in a position very long on top, so we're going up and down and we're seeing a roller coaster and really what this is, is the voters are taking a look and that's a good thing and I think that's a very good process, Bachmann said.

The process has seen the three-term congresswoman return to her home state of Iowa, announcing her campaign in Waterloo, where she was born in 1956.

"Well I'm an Iowan. I was born here in Iowa and I'm a 7th generation Iowan. I'm thrilled I was able to grow up here," she said.

While she grew up in Iowa, she has lived most of her adult life in Minnesota, moving there when she was 12 years old. Before politics became a part of her life, tax law and family dominated her existence. She worked as a federal tax attorney for five years before becoming a full-time mother. Bachmann has four kids of her own and over the years, has served as a foster mom for 23 children.

In the late 1990's, it became clear the she had a desire to enter politics. She first won election to the Minnesota State Senate in 2000. In 2006, a year defined by sweeping Democratic victories across the country, conservative Michele Bachmann became the first Republican woman from Minnesota ever elected to Congress.

"I've taken these Iowan sensibilities that I've grown up with here in this beautiful state. I've taken them to the halls of Congress and I've shaken up Congress. Now, I want to take the Iowa sensibility to the White House and shake up the White House," she added.

Bachmann has certainly shaken up Washington, but not in the traditional sense. In her short time in Congress she has never had a bill that she authored, signed into law. She never served as a chairman of a committee. But what she has accomplished is a commitment to be the chief opponent of liberals across America and she is not afraid to speak that message to anyone, anywhere.

During a recent interview with Chris Matthews, she was asked "So you believe Barack Obama may have anti-American views? Bachmann responded, "Absolutely. I am very concerned that he may have anti-American views."

First becoming a media darling, in 2009 she became a darling of the Tea Party movement as it swept across the United States, founding the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. As the Tea Party gained momentum, so too did this woman, who is now campaigning to sit at the highest precipice in politics, as President of the United States.

In terms of what she will do if elected, we asked how her plan to help fix the economy is different from the rest?

"Well, I have the real-world background that no other candidate has. No other candidate is a tax lawyer or has worked with the tax code the way that I have. I get what a mess the tax code is and I know exactly what needs to be done with the tax code to make it create jobs and work for all Americans, whether they're invested in a business or not. I know what to do."

As for a proposal that hits Iowans in the wallet, we asked for her view on the idea of cutting up to $23 billion in farm subsidies.

"I love Iowa, but I think its also important to recognize that this is a wonderful crop year for a lot of farmers so agriculture is doing really well, Bachmann said. "As I have talked to the farm bureau, the farm bureau is also open to cut some subsidies. Some just don't make sense anymore. Some come out of a Depression-era mentality that doesn't exist anymore, so what we need to do is we need to recognize and move with the times."

On gay marriage, Bachmann has been adamantly opposed, especially in a state like Iowa where a court ruling, not legislation, legalized gay marriage.

"That's why we need to have a federal marriage amendment, and I will only appoint judges that will stand up for the original intent of the constitution and that's a very important role the President of the United States plays."

If Michelle Bachmann is to win the GOP nomination, she will have to improve her poll numbers. The latest Des Moines Register poll has her getting 8 percent of support. That's down a significant amount since her Iowa Straw Poll victory. But don't count her out. She was able to win the Iowa event after officially being in the race for just two weeks.

Who knows what she can do in the days before the Iowa Presidential Caucuses.

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