GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann stopped by the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale this evening, mostly to speak poorly of the apparent front-runner in the race -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- as well as to answer a few questions as indirectly as possible.
What several people wanted to know was when she's going to call it quits, but she said she had no plans to do so, claiming she anticipates coming in first place in Iowa.
Bachmann -- who referred to herself as the "only consistent conservative" in the race five times over the course of the few-minutes-long news conference -- spent a good deal of time attacking Gingrich.
As Gingrich has somehow decided to brand himself a Washington outsider, Bachmann cited a few things that makes his title "not really plausible," like being a part of Washington for about three decades, the money he's made "influence-peddling," and the fact that his offices are on K Street -- the "Rodeo Drive of Washington," as Bachmann called it.
"That's not really consistent with trying to brand yourself as an outsider," she said.
Bachmann also dumped on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a bit, not surprisingly, with the flip-flopping angle that's consistently played by his critics.
She then had some awkward things to say about immigration.
Bachmann has called Gingrich a supporter of amnesty based on a 2004 Wall Street Journal piece he cosigned (you can read it here), to which Gingrich responded by calling Bachmann "factually challenged."
Bachmann's lame retort to that was that Gingrich has a "memory challenge."
She then spoke about her tough immigration/deportation policy, and a question was raised as to how she thinks the Hispanic population in South Florida will react to that.
Bachmann replied that they'll love it because it will provide them with jobs, as if that made any more sense than her next comment.
"Latinas love jobs," she said.
She's scheduled for a fundraiser tonight in Boca Raton.
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