Bachmann: "We Intend to be the Comeback Kid"

Lynchburg, VA -- At a time when her star appears to be fading in national polls and the hard slog of running for president seems to be settling in, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is letting it be known: she's not letting up in her bid for the presidency.

"We intend to be the comeback kid in this race," she declared to reporters after delivering the convocation on the campus of Liberty University.

Bachmann failed to gain momentum following her win in the Ames, Iowa Presidential Straw poll in August, but today she maintained, "We have a very strong base of support in Iowa, we'll continue to build that base of support... We will be all over the country, and we intend to do very well. We won the Liberty straw poll too. We came right back here. We're the comeback kid showing we can do it. So this happens, in races you have ups, you have downs. And we are on the upswing now."

Asked about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's acknowledgment that he's "listening" to those who are calling for him to make a presidential run, Bachmann welcomed his entry, saying "I love Governor Christie. I think he's marvelous, and I'm pleased with the field that we have. I would be more than happy to see Governor Christie join us if he'd like to."

The Minnesota congresswoman shook hands with students at the Helms School of Government students and fielded a few of their questions, half of which focused on the intersection between biblical teachings and gender.

One student asked for her thoughts on evangelicals who say they wouldn't vote for a woman president because of the scripture.

"I'm not running to be anyone's spiritual authority; I think that scripture deals with spiritual authority, that's not the position I'm in," Bachmann said. "I've been a federal tax lawyer, I've been a state senator, I've been a member of the United States Congress, now I'm seeking to be the president of the United States. That doesn't put me in any way in a spiritual authority over man. I'm not in spiritual authority over my husband. I certainly wouldn't presume to be in spiritual authority over any man in the United States. This is a secular occupation. If you look at Proverbs 31 and all of the various occupations the woman fulfills in Proverbs 31, she's certainly fulfilling an occupation. That's what the office of the presidency is as well, it's an executive trust that people are giving to that individual but it's not a position of spiritual authority. I think they're mutually exclusive."

Bachmann said she was "happy" to be asked about a woman's role as "submissive" in a marriage during the Fox News presidential debate in Iowa last August, a question brought up again on Wednesday by a female student at Liberty.

Calling marriage a relationship of "mutual respect," Bachmann said, "The scripture teaches -- when you look at the submission issue -- that husbands are supposed to lay their life down for their wife, so women actually have the better end of the bargain," Bachmann said, drawing laughter from the students.