THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Michele Bachmann has formally launched a bid to be the Republican presidential candidate next year, warning the United States "cannot afford four more years" of President Barack Obama.
"I seek the presidency not for vanity, but because I think America is at a crucial moment," Mrs Bachmann, a darling of the conservative "Tea Party" movement, said in a speech to some 200 supporters in the key heartland state of Iowa.
The outspoken Minnesota lawmaker, 55, pointed to the swelling US national debt, soaring petrol prices, historically high unemployment and took aim at Obama's signature health law, the target of conservative voter anger.
"We can't afford four more years of millions of Americans who are out of work," she said to voters in Iowa, home to a first-in-the-nation caucus that shapes the Republican presidential field. "We cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama." » | Monday, June 27, 2011