Bachmann says Cain controversy proof she's the 'consistent' candidate

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Tuesday said the most recent controversy swirling around Herman Cain shows she is the most “consistent conservative” in the GOP presidential race.

“I think that [Cain and staff] recognize that the support has really dropped out of their campaign because of those questions,” Bachmann told Iowa’s WHO news radio, according to the Des Moines Register, in response to reports that Cain is considering dropping out of the race.

Cain on Tuesday told his staff that he is “reassessing” his decision to remain in the race for the Republican nomination. While Cain has maintained he is still running, despite facing a phalanx of sexual harassment charges, new allegations surfaced Monday from an Atlanta businesswoman claiming she and Cain had a 13-year-long affair.

“That goes back to the message we’ve been trying to get out to people across Iowa, and that’s that I do have a core of conviction. I’ve been the consistent conservative in the race and as people have been shopping around for the candidates, I think they’re going to come back home and see I’ve been the consistent, constitutional conservative who’s going to fight,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann has been hit with reports of a struggling campaign and falling support since last summer, focusing on her Iowa campaign and releasing a new book as she watched fellow candidates Rick Perry, Cain and Newt Gingrich rise — and the former two fall — in the polls. She has recently targeted Gingrich for his stance on illegal immigration.

Bachmann also offered a clue that she has zeroed in on becoming the more conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, whom she still sees as the rival Republican to beat.

“I’ll be the strongest candidate to battle against, I think, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama,” Bachmann said.

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