“Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside,” she said at a hastily-arranged news conference here.

“I have no regrets,” she added. “None whatsoever. We never compromised our principles.” She said she “looks forward to the next chapter in God’s plan.”

Bachmann did not endorse another candidate.

Bachmann, a third-term Minnesota congresswoman and the founder of the Tea Party caucus in the House, won the support of just five percent of Iowa Republican caucus-goers Tuesday. She finished in sixth place in the caucuses, which was essentially last place among the major contenders, since Jon Huntsman did not contest the state.

She also came in last in the hard-fought, three-way race among the candidates targeting Iowa social conservatives, finishing behind second-place finisher Rick Santorum and fifth-place Rick Perry. Perry, the Texas governor, said Tuesday he is returning to the Lone Star State to reassess his campaign, though he said Wednesday he plans to stay in the race.

Bachmann said Republicans should “rally around” the Republican nominee in order to defeat President Obama next November. Thanking her husband, her campaign staffers and her supporters, she vowed to “continue to be a strong voice” for her beliefs.

It’s been a sad fall for Bachmann in Iowa, where she was born. She won the straw poll here in August, a finish that briefly earned her frontrunner status for the caucuses. But her support eroded steadily since the summer, and an aggressive retail campaign here that included a recent 99-county, ten-day bus tour did not improve her standing.

Bachmann had been running a cash-strapped campaign, and her poor finish here meant she would not emerge with the fundraising boost she needed to keep her effort alive through January. (Instead, Santorum will see that boost – and claim the mantle of the field’s consensus conservative candidate.) Bachmann had been planning to travel directly to South Carolina after the caucuses, essentially forgoing the New Hampshire primary and its independent-minded and relatively unreligious voters. Read more here.