Michele Bachmann, until recently a presidential hopeful, has made it clear that she is not yet ready to endorse Mitt Romney, or anyone else in the field.

"I haven't yet made a decision yet about who I will endorse or if I will endorse before the nominee is chosen," Bachmann told Martha MacCallum during a Fox News interview on Wednesday. "I want to be a unifying voice. I want to bring together the tea party, the establishment, evangelicals, because we have to also bring in independents and disaffected Democrats. We have to beat Obama."

The rumors about a possible endorsement went into high gear because of Romney's Wednesday schedule which has him attending a grassroots rally in Bachmann's home state of Minnesota. There were even some reports that operatives from the two campaigns were in talks about a possible endorsement.

An endorsement from Bachmann could prove to be very useful for Romney since the congresswoman is a very popular figure among the hard core conservatives that Romney traditionally has a difficult time courting.

Bachmann released a statement later on Wednesday reiterating the sentiments she first articulated on Fox News. (read more)

You're Fired! That's what a tweet from Donald Trump late Monday afternoon seems to say about presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.

"Michele Bachmann will finish dead last tonight in Iowa because she is disloyal and a terrible boss. Sadly, it is over for Michele," the tweet from Trump's official Twitter handle @realDonaldTrump read.

Bachmann, a native of Iowa, has made Monday night's Hawkeye State caucuses a focus of her campaign from the start. Though a poor finish would deal a big blow to her candidacy, Bachmann has also concentrated on South Carolina's first-in-the-south primary.  Voters don't go tot he polls there until Jan. 21.

Trump has met with Bachmann four times since her campaign began. Last month, he called Bachmann disloyal when she wouldn't agree to appear at a Trump-hosted debate. Only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum agreed to appear and the debate was ultimately cancelled.

Bob Vander Plaats, head of Iowa's influential conservative group "The Family Leader", called Michele Bachmann's campaign on Saturday to try and persuade the Iowa Straw Poll winner to drop out of the presidential primary race and support either Rick Santorum, or Rick Perry, according to Alice Stewart Communicatons Director for Bachmann. In Iowa Tuesday, Vander Plaats announced that his organization, which holds a lot of pull among religious conservatives, decided to stay neutral during the Iowa Caucuses but he would be personally supporting Santorum for president.

Stewart says that during Vander Plaats' "weird call" Saturday, Vander Plaats told Bachmann's camp to "join forces with either Santorum or Perry " because the only way religious conservatives could win would be to " unite the Christian candidates". Bachmann's campaign then allegedly replied that they were "absolutely, positively not going to do that" and retorted that they consistently placed better in most polls, than Santorum or Perry.

Vander Plaats replied via text to FOX, denying the allegations. " Nope", he simply stated when asked if he had called Bachmann to drop out and support another candidate.

Newt Gingrich's 15-point national lead has collapsed and the GOP presidential candidate is now in a statistical dead heat with Republican rival Mitt Romney, according to a new Gallup tracking poll out Monday.

The former Speaker of the House is now ahead of Romney by only 26 percent to 24 percent, among GOP voters and GOP leaning independent voters. However, Gingrich's decline has not meant an overwhelming increase in support for the former Massachusetts Governor, and shows that no single candidate has benefited proportionately more from Gingrich's drop. (read more)

In an interview airing Saturday at 8pm EDT on FOX News' "Huckabee", GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann said she does not "hate" Muslims as her Republican primary opponent Ron Paul charged on Friday.

" No, no," Bachmann replied to the show's host, former Gov.Mike Huckabee, when he asked about Paul's comments. "I have never said anything that foolish. What I believe is that I love the American people and I love this country and I want this country to be safe, sovereign and free. "

Instead Bachmann used the opportunity to pivot and point to Iran and Iran's leaders as possessing "the real hate" towards Israelis and Americans. (read more)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry may get the second chance he's asking Iowa voters to give him.

As Perry starts his 42-stop bus tour through Iowa, his campaign claims the momentum is building.

Nationally, Perry's poll numbers are anemic at best. But pollster Scott Rasmussen says he will release a new poll Thursday that shows Perry's poll numbers in Iowa are up slightly.

Rasmussen tells Fox News that means Perry could capture a lot of undecided voters in the Hawkeye State come January 3rd.

The campaign is hoping barnstorming across Iowa over the holidays will showcase what Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan calls their best asset-- Perry's "unrivaled ability to personally connect with Republican voters in traditional retail campaign venues."

Polls and history say 50-percent of the 120,000 likely to caucus in Iowa are undecided, or could change their minds.

Sullivan insists, "The momentum is real, and we believe our strong Iowa grassroots organization, Iowa media efforts and Perry's retail campaign skills will make us even strong heading into the January 3rd Iowa caucuses."

Perry has several ads playing on TV and radio in Iowa. And a strong debate performance at the Fox News debate in Sioux City would be big. (read more)

Reality TV star Donald Trump claims some of the Republican presidential candidates are worried he'll still run against them. That's why "The Donald" says so many are refusing to take part in the debate he'll moderate in Iowa later this month.

"The Republican Party candidates are very concerned that some time after the final episode of The Apprentice, on May 20th, when the equal time provisions are no longer applicable to me, I will announce my candidacy for President of the United States as an Independent and that, unless I conclusively agree not to run as an Independent, they will not agree to the Newsmax debate scheduled for December 27, 2011," Trump said in a statement. "I am unwilling to give up my right to run as an Independent candidate," he added.

In an interview with Don Imus on the Fox Business Network Friday, Trump had particularly harsh words for Michele Bachmann, who just last night decided she will skip the debate.

"I did like a two hour phone call for her with her people and people said, are you endorsing her, which the answer was no and after all of that, she just announced she's not going to do the debate," Trump said. "Unbelievable. It's actually called loyalty, how do you do that? It's amazing to me." (read more)

Michele Bachmann is not participating in Donald Trump's NewsMax debate in Iowa, her spokesman said Thursday.

Bachmann is the final GOP contender to RSVP, and in doing so joins a long list of candidates -- Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman -- who have declined the invitation.

Only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have agreed to participate in the Des Moines debate.

The Minnesota congresswoman has visited the reality television celebrity four times at his Trump Tower office.

But a week ago when the announcement of the Dec. 27 debate was made, Trump openly speculated about what would happen to Bachmann's supporters if she dropped out of the field.

"If Herman goes or if Michele goes or if somebody goes, he doesn't seem to pick up those poll numbers," Trump said of Romney in a phone interview with Special Report anchor Bret Baier.

Fox News producer Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided not to participate in The Newsmax ION Presidential Debate scheduled for December 27th in Des Moines, Iowa which will be moderated by business tycoon, and reality TV celebrity Donald Trump.

Appearing a short time ago on FOX News, Romney told anchor Neil Cavuto that he chose against the event because there were already two debates in Iowa this month and he wanted to spend the rest of the time before the primaries campaigning and " doing work you have to do."

Romney said he called Trump to inform him of his decision.

" He understood my perspective and wished me well, " Romney said.

Amongst the rest of the GOP presidential field, Iowa front-runner Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum have both said they will participate while Ron Paul, and John Huntsman have also rejected the offer.

Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann are still weighing their decisions. (read more)

Six presidential candidates participated in Mike Huckabee's presidential forum in New York City Saturday, fielding questions from three Republican attorneys general - Pam Bondi of Florida, Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia, and Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma.

Newt Gingrich, who in a Des Moines Register Poll out Saturday has taken the lead in Iowa at 25 percent support, defended his proposal for determining which illegal immigrants should be able to stay in the United States. Bondi expressed concerns that neighborhood boards would undermine the rule of law, especially when neighbors and friends would be determining their fate.

"That is what we do in a jury trial," said Gingrich. "That's the whole point. That's why the founding fathers who distrusted judges insisted on juries. Because ultimately, in a free society, the citizens have to bear responsibility for their own culture and their own society. And ultimately, they are -- I believe they are -- more trustworthy. If you ask me would I trust a jury or a Washington bureaucrat, I would rather have my fate decided by a jury of my peers than have my fate decided by a Washington bureaucrat." (read more)