Bachmann: '2012 Is It'

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann called 2012 "a last chance election" during Thursday's town hall meeting in North Charleston. 

"This is probably the most crucial election. It's a last chance election," Bachmann said. "2012 is it."

She gave a doomsday prediction for the country if a leader is not elected to repeal Obamacare. 

"We need a miracle now," she said. She likened Obamacare to a cancer that would metastasize after the 2012 election and be unable to be repealed. 

"We can never get rid of it," Bachmann said. And Obamacare, she added, is just one more step into turning the United States into France. 

Less than 10 questions were posed to Bachmann from moderator Rep. Tim Scott, who hosted the event as part of his First in the South Presidential Town Hall series. About 300 people attended. 

Bachmann wasn't shy in touting her own credentials for the Oval Office during the event.

"I've stared down five 2-year-olds in my life and I've stared down 20 teenagers in my life," Bachmann said. "We need one tough hombre to be in the White House and I'm an hombrette."

Among her get-tough stances were "turning out the lights and closing the doors" on the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

Bachmann is currently polling at 10 percent in a Gallup Poll for 2012 Republican nomination preferences among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 

Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry all poll higher. Perry has the best percentage at 29 percent. 

Among Patch Powerful Outsiders, Bachmann is seen as . 

Although no question was asked about Obamacare during Thursday's town hall, Bachmann spoke about it frequently.

"I maybe talk about Obamacare more than I should," Bachmann smiled. 

She did take time to touch on the topics of building a fence to stem illegal immigration, bringing in manufacturing, preventing gay marriage and abolishing the tax code. 

Morgan and Layna Sally were among the youngest attendees at Michelle Bachmann's town hall meeting at 14 and 12 respectively, but the sisters have been politically active for more than a year. During Rep. Tim Scott's run for Congress the girls helped put up campaign signs and attended lots of his election events with their father who also worked on the campaign.

"I really liked her," Morgan said. "I think what she said she would do will work, I don't think it will be like (President Barack) Obama who what he said he'd do didn't work. Now we're in deeper debt."

Layna said Bachmann's focusing on illegal immigration opened her eyes to the issue.

Bachmann spent several minutes on illegal immigration saying the main problem is that the federal government isn't enforcing the existing laws and that Border Patrol agents don't have the assurance that they will be backed up when they perform their jobs. Bachmann voiced support for building a fence across the entire border.

"We need to build the barrier, or the border fence, whatever you want to call it, every mile, every yard, every foot, every inch," Bachmann said.

The candidate also said she's "not afraid" to debate the tax code, adding that Fair Tax and flat tax are attractive options.

"I'm extremely open to this debate because of my background," Bachmann, a former tax attorney, said. "We rule by the consent of the governed, so we have to listen to the people on this and, on something as significant as taxing, we need to sell the plan to the people and they need to buy in." 

Her strong convictions appeared to have won some fans. 

"She's voicing things I felt in my soul: We're at the end of our rope," Charles Early of Ladson said. "She's the one." 

Susan Styles of Goose Creek liked the candidate's passion as well.

"She's very clear about her convictions and she's convinced me she is a person who sticks by her convictions," Styles said. 

But her convictions weren't enough to win over Patch blogger Billy Simons who attended the event. Open about not supporting Bachmann's bid, Simons denounced her lack of executive experience. 

"We've already been down that once with Obama," Simons said. 

For Early, lack of executive experience isn't an issue. 

"The passion is what you've got to have," he said.