Michelle Bachmann launches White House bid

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) -- Outspoken congresswoman and tea party favorite Michele Bachmann cast herself as the "bold choice" for the Republican presidential nomination as she formally kicked off her campaign Monday.

Outside a historic mansion in Waterloo, Bachmann said she is waging her campaign "not for vanity," but because voters "must make a bold choice if we are to secure the promise of the future."

As a new Iowa poll this past weekend signaled she'll be a force in the state that opens the GOP nomination contest, Bachmann hopes to reshape the GOP field and how she's viewed by voters. After the formal Iowa kickoff, she planned to shift her focus to New Hampshire and South Carolina, other early voting states with traditions of separating the viable contenders from the political also-rans.

Meantime Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace says that he "messed up" by asking the Republican presidential contender whether she's a flake.

The talk show host posted the video apology after his "Fox News Sunday" interview with the Minnesota congresswoman, who formally announced her presidential bid Monday. Wallace said on the Fox show that Bachmann had a reputation in Washington for making questionable statements and asked her: "Are you a flake?"

Bachmann said she's a "serious person" and found insinuations that she was a flake to be "insulting."

Wallace said later that since "it's really all about the answers and not the questions, I messed up. I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect."

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