Washington: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on Wednesday announced to suspend her presidential campaign after finishing a poor sixth in the Iowa Caucus.
"Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside," Bachmann said at a hurriedly convened news conference in Iowa.
After garnering just five per cent of the Caucuses votes yesterday, Bachmann felt "there is no viable way forward" to her presidential aspirations.
It is being widely speculated here that Texas Governor Rick Perry too might drop out of the race, thus leaving five Republicans in the race before the New Hampshire primary.
After finishing fifth with 10 per cent of the votes, Perry announced that he is headed to Texas to reaccess his campaign, which he joined only mid-last year.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had won the Iowa Caucus by just eight votes over Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania. The Texas Congressman Ron Paul came a close third.
Announcing her decision to suspend her campaign, Bachmann continued to attack President Barack Obama, alleging that he is leading the country towards socialist policies.
Due to the "failed policies" of Obama, she claimed. The United States is in a very serious trouble.
"I will not be in this race for presidency," Bachmann said at a hurriedly convened press conference in Iowa.
Mid-last year, she was placed top in the Iowa straw polls. Earlier, she cancelled her planned trip to South Carolina.
"I'm sorry to say, we have strayed from the vision of our founders' view of government. And the 2012 election might very well be our last opportunity to reclaim our liberty from a government that somehow seems bent on taking more and more of it away from us every day," she said in her speech after the Iowa Caucuses results were declared last night.
"Since day one of Barack Obama's presidency, I have led the fight in Washington against his liberal, socialist policies. And when the president wanted a USD 1 trillion stimulus package, I said no. And when the President pushed to take over your health care and replace it with socialized medicine, I led 40,000 people to Washington, DC, to let the president know that the American people were against it," she said.
"We don't want socialised medicine. We're not going to keep socialized medicine. And Barack Obama's socialized medicine will be repealed," she said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 00:04