Ding-Dong the psychotic is out.
Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race
By Amy Bingham | ABC News
Rep. Michele Bachmann will "suspend her campaign" a senior campaign officials tells ABC News, just hours after placing last in the Iowa caucuses and vowing to continue in South Carolina.
Bachmann finished sixth in Tuesday's Iowa caucus.
Iowa has played a visible and vital role in Bachmann's campaign since its inception.
It became the backdrop of her presidential bid when in June she announced her candidacy in her hometown of Waterloo.
It became the springboard for her stint, albeit short-lived, as the GOP frontrunner after she secured the top spot at the Ames Straw Poll in August.
And today it became the insurmountable hurdle that ended her run for the White House after she finished dead last among the GOP candidates competing in the Iowa caucus.
Bachmann, a three-term congresswoman from Minnesota, emerged on the national political scene riding the wave of Tea Party activism. As the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, Bachmann's socially conservative, family-oriented approach initially captured the support of the staunch conservatives and evangelical Christians.
Bachmann has five children of her own and has taken in 23 foster children.
She supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman and opposes abortion under any circumstances. She came under fire in June after a gay patient treated at the Christian counseling center Bachmann and her husband own told ABC News that the clinic tried to "pray the gay away" using so-called reparative therapy.
She also took some heat after implying that the HPV vaccine, which rival candidate Rick Perry mandated as Texas governor, could cause mental retardation in young girls, a claim the American Academy of Pediatrics said was had "absolutely no scientific validity."
When it comes to the economy, which the majority of voters say is their No. 1 issue this cycle, Bachmann touts her experience as a "federal tax litigation attorney" aka tax evasion prosecutor for the IRS.
Her tax code tag line is often that every American should pay at least some income taxes, rather than just 47 percent who currently pay them. Bachmann says that broadening the tax base will pay for tax breaks for high-income earners.
Bachmann's 11-point jobs and tax proposal, the "American Jobs, Right Now" blueprint, also calls for ending taxes on repatriated profits and expanding domestic energy production.
The Minnesota congresswoman claimed that Perry's flat tax plan, which he announced in October, is an "imitation" of her plan.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; thank you Governor Perry for using my ideas for your tax plan," Bachmann posted on her Facebook wall shortly after Perry announced his plan.
After a similarly poor showing at the Iowa caucus Tuesday, Perry said he will take a few days off to "determine if there is a path forward for myself in this race."
