MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa – Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., spent Saturday shaking hands in Iowa diners and strolling through a bustling farmers market as she tried to capitalize on her early popularity in the state that kicks off the presidential campaign season.

An Iowa native, the tea party favorite ranked nearly even with GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney in a recent poll of Republicans likely to participate in the state’s leadoff caucuses next year.

But just six weeks before the state’s closely watched straw poll, she has done little to campaign or set up an organization here.

Beginning her first sustained campaign trip to Iowa as an announced candidate, Bachmann introduced herself to audiences from Iowa City to Des Moines in a new campaign bus.

“I have every confidence our team is going to deliver,” Bachmann said after meeting about 100 supporters and politically curious Iowans at a stop in Marshalltown. “I am going to be here in Iowa campaigning all through July.”

 

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