Michele Bachmann: As President, I Would be Happy to Lead the Nation in Prayer

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Sunday that, as president, she would be happy to lead the nation in prayer.

Speaking at the Calvary Bible Church in Osceola, Iowa, the Minnesota congresswoman was asked whether she would ever lead the country in prayer, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did when American forces stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

“I think that a president doesn’t lose their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression and religious worship and liberty,” Bachmann said. “I would be most pleased to do that, to lead the nation in prayer."

(Click here for audio of Bachmann's answer from the Iowa Independent)

Bachmann said that while the U.S. "wisely" does not have a national church or demand that people -- or the president -- be of a particular faith, the First Amendment "shouldn't prohibit religious speech or religious expression, particularly in the public square."

"I think it is time that people of faith stand up and not be fearful and stand for our faith because that’s one of the freedoms that our founders bled and died for to give to each one of us," she said.

Bachmann's remarks come at a time when her campaign is heavily courting evangelical voters and trying to rally their support in the state, just 10 weeks out from the caucus.

Her campaign has suffered a slew of setbacks in recent weeks, most recently reports Friday that her entire New Hampshire staff quit. She has been focusing her efforts in Iowa, where she won the Ames straw poll this summer, but has seen declining poll numbers and comparatively paltry fundraising hauls.