Bachmann: Ready for ‘Vicious’ 2012 Campaign

Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is considering a presidential run, believes she is qualified because she is a known fighter against the “gargantuan growth of government” and can withstand what is expected to be a “vicious” campaign to unseat President Barack Obama. While not saying whether she has made a decision, Bachmann told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Tuesday, Americans would vote for her because she “is a practical, principled, reform-minded individual.”

 “I haven’t made a decision yet — probably sometime this summer,” Bachmann said, adding that though not yet a candidate, she has taken her message to Iowa, and other early primary states, because “I have been here on the frontlines fighting against all the gargantuan growth of government for the last five years — [saying] that we definitely need a change — and I’ve been in the early primary states talking to the perspective voters about how we cannot afford a second term of Barack Obama.

“They’re the ones who will make the crucial decision about who our nominee will be,” Bachmann continued. “I personally believe, we do have a very strong opportunity to make Barack Obama a one-term president. They’re very crucial voters, so I want to talk to them about the issues — and in the course of that, I have been urged by a number of people in the states to actually consider running — and we are in the process of doing that.”

O’Reilly asked Bachmann whether she had the can withstand expected vicious attacks on her credentials and credibility.

“I am used to vicious press — I come from a state that is, what you might call a liberal state — and the press hasn’t necessarily been on my side,” Bachmann said. “But that hasn’t bothered me at all, because no one endured more negative press than Ronald Reagan — and the American people were able to see through that.”

Bachmann admitted she expects the campaign will be “vicious” because “again, what we are looking at is someone who will be coming up against Barack Obama.”