Michele Bachmann says don't count her out

Combined News Services

Vowing to press ahead through the Iowa caucuses, Republican Michele Bachmann dismissed the notion Thursday that her presidential campaign was in disarray.

Her comments came a day after a key supporter fled her campaign and she had to fend off other calls to leave the race for the GOP nomination.

The Minnesota congresswoman called her campaign organization "strong" and said her headquarters had received 150 calls of support after her Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, resigned and switched his allegiance to rival Ron Paul.

Sorenson backed Paul on Wednesday, a few hours after appearing with Bachmann. She alleges he was offered "a lot of money" to change sides, an inducement she said Sorenson had told her about during a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

"I know what I was told in that conversation," Bachmann said.

The Paul campaign and Sorenson deny that money factored into the decision or that any such offer was made.

Sorenson told CNN Thursday that he wanted to back a candidate who is in a position to keep Mitt Romney from winning Iowa. "It's unfortunate they're resorting to these type of tactics," Sorenson said. "But the fact of the matter is she wasn't going to win Iowa."

Bachmann's Iowa political director, Wes Enos, rumored to be leaving her campaign as well, said he doesn't believe Sorenson left for money.

In other campaign news, Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed in his bid to stop Virginia election officials from printing or distributing primary ballots after his presidential campaign was told his name wouldn't appear on them.

A federal judge in Richmond said Thursday that he wouldn't stop the printing before the next hearing in the case, scheduled for Jan. 13. He declined to rule on the merits of Perry's challenge.

U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. said at a hearing that regardless of the merits of Perry's claims, his campaign failed to gather the 10,000 signatures required to get on the primary ballot in Virginia.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also failed to get the required signatures from registered voters to qualify for the March 6 primary, including 400 from each of the state's 11 congressional districts.