Rep. Michele Bachmann bobbed and weaved on Tuesday night to avoid endorsing Mitt Romney, even as she acknowledged he will be the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
Asked whether she was finally ready to throw her support behind Romney, Bachmann told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, "I have been working very hard for the last few weeks to be able to unite our party. That's really been my focus. It's not about me. It's about defeating Barack Obama."
"I have been working with tea party and conservatives, social conservatives, to try to bring people together. And I think we're making a lot of progress," she added.
Pressed by Van Susteren on why she wouldn't back Romney when his nomination is a done deal, the Minnesota congresswoman and former presidential candidate again danced around the issue.
"I know that I don't want President Obama to have a second term, that goes without even saying," she said. "But what my focus has been again, not on me. I'm not the important part, but Gov. Romney and the victory he has put together is extremely impressive."
Bachmann added, "I haven't been shy. I have said that I will back the nominee. I think it's becoming very apparent who our nominee will be, but it hasn't been about giving an endorsement or withholding an endorsement."
As for what advice she would offer Newt Gingrich, who has yet to drop out of the race, she said, "The speaker will know what to do. It's up to him. I knew what my decision was when it became very clear that I wouldn't be the nominee."
