Bachmann met with great enthusiasm in Waterloo

From IowaPolitics.com

WATERLOO — An enthusiastic crowd of more than 500 greeted Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for her "welcome home event" Sunday night, giving it the feel of one of the first big Iowa presidential campaign rallies of the 2012 caucus season.

The event at the Electric Park Ballroom came on the eve of the congresswoman's official announcement scheduled for Monday morning at the Snowden House in Waterloo that she'll be running for president.

"My name is Michele Bachmann, and tomorrow, I am going to announce that I'm running for the presidency of the United States of America," Bachmann declared after entering the room to the song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. "Tomorrow, I'm going to speak to the nation, but tonight, I want to speak to all of you. I wanted to speak to you first here in Iowa, here in Waterloo."

While Bachmann said on national television at the June 14 Republican presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire that she's running for president, Iowans appeared eager Sunday to hear her say it in person.

Sunday's event had about five times the attendance of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's announcement of his bid for president in Des Moines. It also came on the heels of a new Iowa Poll released this weekend, showing that Bachmann and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are running neck-and-neck as front-runners among 400 likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers. The poll showed Romney with 23 percent and Bachmann with 22 percent. The poll taken June 19-22 had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

"From an excitement standpoint, I've been to a lot of caucuses and I just look at what's happened here, I think she has a lot of potential to go a long way," said Steve Ephraim, of Cedar Falls, who hasn't yet decided which candidate he will support. "And if she can do very well in the Iowa caucus, I think that would get her a very strong start to the national arena."

Bachmann's 25-minute speech Sunday night was short on policy but lengthy on Bachmann trying to connect with Iowans. She talked about being born in Waterloo and individually introduced each member of her family, from husband and children, to her mother, brothers, mother-in-law, aunt, cousin and other relatives.

"Get comfortable; we're family," she instructed the crowd.

Bachmann reminisced about her childhood in Waterloo from the house where she grew up to her favorite Dairy Queen ice cream shop to her favorite sandwich growing up — mayonnaise and lettuce sandwiches on Wonder Bread. She said the highlight of the year was going to the National Cattle Congress, a place that shows livestock and has rides, games and shows.

She revealed that growing up, everyone in her family was a Democrat except her grandmother. And she made it extremely clear Sunday night how she planned to make Iowa central to her campaign for president — and especially Waterloo, which she called a "wonderful, decent, God-fearing community."

"Everything I needed to know I learned in Iowa," she said. "All that I learned growing up in this beautiful city with the friends and the neighbors and the relatives we were blessed to have, all of that is what poured into me the sense of what America is all about. And that's a voice that's been missing for a very long time in Washington, D.C."

Yet Iowans, seasoned to listening to presidential candidates each caucus season, made it clear Sunday night that they aren't going to let Bachmann get away so easily without tackling the issues.

"I want to hear the crowd of questions — how she is on foreign affairs," said Lillian Wingers, of Waterloo. "There's a little harder questions for her to answer. She's done very, very well here, but we've got to hear some more."

Nonetheless, Wingers said she was energized by Sunday night's event. She described Bachmann as a down-to-earth, warm, hometown person whom she can believe. She also said Bachmann would make a much better candidate for president than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who will be in Iowa on Tuesday for the premiere of her documentary, "The Undefeated," at the Pella Opera House.

Ephraim, who supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, said he shares many of Bachmann's conservative beliefs, but the Minnesota congresswoman can come off as a little too harsh making statements at times on issues like gay marriage.

"I don't have a strong impression of candidate Bachmann yet," Ephraim said. "I think that she certainly has taken the attention of the media. She seems to generate a lot of excitement. I think she probably will, in the Iowa caucus, do very well."

Listen to Bachmann speech:

http://www.iowapolitics.com/1009/110626Bachmann_speech.mp3

See photos from Sunday night’s event:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/sets/72157626931066347/