Michele Bachmann in 2011 GOP primary debate in Manchester NH

On Abortion: Life is the first right; I'm 100% pro-life from conception

BACHMANN: I am 100 percent pro-life. I've given birth to five babies, an I've taken 23 foster children into my home. I believe in the dignity of life from conception until natural death. I believe in the sanctity of human life. Our Declaration of Independence said it's a creator who endowed us with inalienable rights given to us from God, not from government. And the first of those rights is life. And I stand for that right. I stand for the right to life. The very few cases that deal with those exceptions are the very tiniest of fraction of cases, and yet they get all the attention. Where all of the firepower is, is on the genuine issue of taking an innocent human life.

PAWLENTY: The National Review Online said based on results--not just based on words--I was probably the most pro-life candidate in this race.

On Civil Rights: Children need mother & father; but let states decide

BACHMANN: Well, I do believe in the 10th Amendment and I do believe in self-determination for the states. I also believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I carried that legislation when I was a senator in Minnesota, and I believe that for children, the best possible way to raise children is to have a mother and father in their life.

Q: What would a President Bachmann do to initiate or facilitate a repeal law on the state level?

BACHMANN: I'm running for the presidency of the United States. And I don't see that it's the role of a president to go into states and interfere with their state laws. I do support a constitutional amendment on marriage between a man and a woman, but I would not be going into the states to overturn their state law.

On Civil Rights: Keep Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell in

GINGRICH: Both the Army and the Marines overwhelmingly opposed changing it. And if as president- I've met with them and they said it isn't working and we should go back, I would listen to the commanders whose lives are at risk about the young men and women that they are, in fact, trying to protect.

BACHMANN: I would keep the "don't ask/don't tell" policy.

Q: So you would--whatever the Obama administration does now--you would try to go back? You'd try to reverse what they're doing?

BACHMANN: I would, after, again, following much what the speaker just said, I would want to confer with our commanders-in-chief and with--also with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because I'd want to know how it was being implemented and if it has--had had the detrimental effects that have been suggested that will come.

On Families & Children: Mother of 5; foster parent of 23 children

I just want to make an announcement here for you. I filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the US today. And I'll very soon be making my formal announcement

On Health Care: First member of Congress to call for repeal of ObamaCare

BACHMANN: I was the very first member of Congress to introduce the full-scale repeal of Obamacare. And I want to make a promise to everyone watching tonight: As president of the US, I will not rest until I repeal Obamacare. It's a promise. Take it to the bank, cash the check. I'll make sure that that happens.

This is the symbol and the signature issue of President Obama during his entire tenure. And this is a job-killer. The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office has said that Obamacare will kill 800,000 jobs. What could the president be thinking by passing a bill like this, knowing full well it will kill 800,000 jobs?

Senior citizens get this more than any other segment of our population, because they know in Obamacare, the president took away $500 billion, a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare, shifted it to Obamacare to pay for younger people, and it's senior citizens who have the most to lose in Obamacare.

On Jobs: Omnibus bill to repeal job-killing bills, starting with EPA

A: The federal government and the states have done numerous job training programs over the year with mixed results. Today the US has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. I'm a former federal tax lawyer. I've seen the devastation. We've got to bring that tax rate down substantially so that we're among the lowest in the industrialized world.

Here's the other thing. Every time the liberals get into office, they pass an omnibus bill of big spending projects. What we need to do is pass the mother of all repeal bills, but it's the repeal bill that will get a job killing regulations. And I would begin with the EPA, because there is no other agency like the EPA. It should really be renamed the job-killing organization of America.

On Principles & Values: Chairs the House Tea Party Caucus

SANTORUM: Not at all. I think the Tea Party is a great backstop for America. It is absolutely essential that we have that backbone to the Republican Party going into this election.

Q: [to Bachmann]: Does the influence of the Tea Party push out mainstream Republicans?

BACHMANN: I'm the chairman of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. And what I've seen is unlike how the media has tried to wrongly and grossly portray the Tea Party, the Tea Party is really made up of disaffected Democrats, independents, people who've never been political a day in their life. People who are libertarians, or Republicans. It's a wide swath of America coming together. I think that's why the left fears it so much. Because they're people who simply want to take the country back. They want the country to work again.

On War & Peace: Don't lead from behind; no US interest in Libya

BACHMANN: No, I don't believe it is. That isn't just my opinion. That was the opinion of our defense secretary. He could not identify a vital national American interest in Libya. Our policy in Libya is substantially flawed. Obama's own people said that he was leading from behind. As commander in chief, I would not lead from behind. We are the head. We are not the tail. The president was wrong. All we have to know is the president deferred leadership in Libya to France. The president was not leading when it came to Libya. First of all, we were not attacked. We were not threatened with attack. There was no vital national interest. We to this day don't yet know who the rebel forces are that we're helping. There are some reports that they may contain al Qaeda of North Africa. What possible vital American interests could we have to empower al Qaeda of North Africa and Libya? The president was absolutely wrong in his decision on Libya