Rep. Michele Bachmann has dropped out of the Republican presidential campaign following a disappointing finish in the Iowa Caucuses.
Bachmann, who grew up in Iowa, but drew only five percent of the vote in Tuesday’s caucuses, announced she was suspending her campaign Wednesday.
“Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside,” she said at a hastily-arranged press conference, reported by CBS News.
“I have no regrets,” she added. “None whatsoever. We never compromised our principles.”
Bachmann, a third-term Minnesota congresswoman is the founder of the Tea Party caucus in the House. She won the straw poll in Iowa in August, soaring briefly as the front runner and the only woman in the GOP campaign.
A series of gaffes and strong competition from Rick Perry first, then Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and finally Rick Santorum left her without a strong support base and low in campaign funds.
Bachmann came in last of the Iowa contenders and had received no endorsements from Governors or members of Congress.
She was, however, upbeat about her achievements as she announced her withdrawal, saying she was “grateful” for her experience as a presidential contender.
Bachmann who, with husband Marcus Bachmann has five children and provided foster care for 23 children, said she was a lawmaker first and foremost: “A politician I never have been, or will I ever hope to be.”
“I didn’t tell you what the polls said you wanted to hear,” she continued, adding that she was “not motivated by vain glory or promise of political power” but rather a desire to see America return to a country of “more freedom” and “less government.”
Bachmann has not yet endorsed another candidate.
