Bachmann: Irene, quake 'God's way'

SARASOTA, Fla., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann was joking when she said Hurricane Irene and a recent quake were God's attention-getters, an aide said.

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians," Bachmann said Sunday at a campaign appearance in Sarasota, Fla.

"We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?'"

On Monday, a Bachmann campaign spokeswoman said the Minnesota congresswoman was just joking.

"Of course, she was saying it in jest," Alice Stewart wrote in an e-mail to ABC News.

Speaking at a Tea Party-sponsored event in Sarasota, Bachmann slammed President Obama's economic agenda and promised deep cuts in government spending, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

Bachmann, who won the Iowa Straw Poll by edging out libertarian Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, also made a campaign stop in Naples as part of her first visit to Florida as a presidential candidate.