AMES, Iowa -- Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., won the Iowa Straw poll on Saturday, turning aside a surge by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and maintaining the momenum with her rising campaign.

Bachmann captured 4,823 votes out of the total 16,892, while Paul captured 4,671. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty finished third 2,293 votes.

"From one Iowan to another, I will be the pace car, if you will, to set the tone and set the pace for bringing this country back to greatness," she said during her address at the Hilton Coliseum Saturday afternoon.

The win is a big boost for the nascent Bachmann campaign that needed to show it could turn the enthusiasm Bachmann has generated on the stump into votes.

Bachmann has been a fixture in Iowa since announcing her campaign in Waterloo, the city in which she was born.

Since late June, she has visited the state 34 times and held 67 events, according to the tally on the Des Moines Register's website.

The win comes after a tense debate between her and rival Pawlenty, who had repeatedly described her record as a legislator as "non-existent."