Michele Bachmann says she’ll run for White House

There was only one winner in last night's Republican presidential candidates' debate in New Hampshire – and her victory had nothing to do with rhetorical eloquence. Michele Bachmann used the occasion to officially announce her candidacy in the Republican primaries.

In a largely polite two-hour debate live on primetime CNN, Bachmann's announcement added a frisson of excitement and shows she is at least as publicity savvy as her main rival for the right-wing Tea Party vote, Sarah Palin.

Charles Babington observed for AP that "the seven GOP candidates seemed more eager to introduce themselves to voters in the televised event than to start ripping each other".

His analysis is borne out in the post-debate chatter, with most observers agreeing that frontrunner Mitt Romney emerged mostly unscathed - apart from an excruciating moment when he suggested it was time to hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban.

Bachmann, by contrast, used her first answer – 11 minutes into the debate - to ignore the question asked of her and say: "I have filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the United States... So I wanted you to be the first to know."

The former governor of Minnesota needs all the publicity she can get. Going into the debate, Bachmann was a distant seventh in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll. She had just four per cent compared to Romney's 24 per cent. Palin was second on 20 per cent.

The post-debate scene in the 'spin-room' was testament to Bachmann's triumph, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. "More reporters were crowding around Bachmann's advisers. 'We saw the entrance this evening of a candidate who deserves to be here,' Republican pollster Ed Goeas announced. 'When you wake up tomorrow morning... you're going to find out Michele Bachmann is driving the debate.'"

In the Daily Telegraph, Tim Stanley explained in four words why Palin – if she ever intended to run in the Republican primaries should fear Bachmann. "How eloquent she was!" he remarks, comparing her performance in the debate with Palin's "'complex relationship' with the English language". Bachmann, he believes, "came off like a policy wonk".

Compared with Palin, maybe, but Bachmann will have a hard task in subsequent debates. She can't pull the same trick of announcing her candidacy again, and will now have to rely on her "eloquence".

Last night, despite winning the debate thanks to publicity gained, she fell down on policy. At one point she said that as president she would not interfere with individual states' policy on same-sex marriage, before later vowing to introduce a constitutional amendment to forbid such unions.

But for the moment, Bachmann can expect to see her stock rise with Tea Party Republicans. And bookmakers William Hill have lengthened the odds on Palin entering the primary race and shortened the odds on Bachmann winning the Republican nomination from 20/1 to 12/1. ·