Micelle Bachmann: "God Sending Mess through Earth Quake& Irene"

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann suggested to a Florida audience that God is sending a message to politicians through natural disasters like Hurricane Irene.

According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, the Minnesota congresswoman said:

I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending.

Bachmann, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, made her first campaign appearances this weekend in Florida, a perennially important swing state in presidential elections. The St. Pete Times reported Bachmann drew 1,000 people to a Sarasota event on Sunday.

The winner of the Iowa straw poll earlier this month, Bachmann is not actively campaigning in Florida's "Presidency Five" straw poll in September. That straw poll is scheduled after a major Republican presidential debate in the Sunshine State.