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HUMBOLDT, Iowa -- Michele Bachmann on Saturday seized an opportunity to dent Ron Paul's standing in the Hawkeye State by spotlighting his foreign policy views, which are far to the left of the Republican Party's.

Paul is polling near the top of the primary field in Iowa and has the most sophisticated organization here, leading a growing cadre of state GOP operatives to believe he could pull off an upset in the Jan. 3 caucuses. Economic issues and personalities have dominated the campaign until now, meaning Paul’s stances on national security -- a topic that separates him greatly from his rivals -- have not gotten much attention. But Paul opened himself to attack with his comments during the Thursday night debate in Sioux City, and Bachmann is using them against him in the still-fluid Iowa race.

In the debate, Paul said the United States should drop sanctions against Iran and soften its language rather than invite war by overreacting to that’s nation’s nuclear development program; Bachmann called his comments possibly the most dangerous she has ever heard regarding American national security.

Her differences with Paul led the libertarian-leaning Texan to tell Jay Leno Friday night that Bachmann hates Muslims.

The Minnesota congresswoman denied his assertion, telling a small audience lunching here on Saturday: “I know who does hate, and that’s the president of Iran. And it’s the mullahs in Iran who have said that they are trying to do everything they can to get a nuclear weapon so they can use it against Israel to kill the Jews in Israel, and they want to use that weapon to kill Americans. So I think you have to open your eyes up when there’s a mad man.”

Bachmann said she takes the threat of a nuclear Iran seriously, adding, “I am prepared to be that commander in chief to stand with our ally, Israel, to stand up against bullies like Iran, [which] sees a deadly alternative in the world, and that’s to kill us.”

Not once in her four-minute remarks did Bachmann say “jobs,” and she made only a passing mention of the economy.

At other stops throughout the day, Bachmann talked about health-care reform, dinging Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for at one time supporting an individual mandate to purchase insurance. She also criticized the temporary deal reached in the Senate on Saturday to extend the payroll tax cut for two months.

But it was her commentary on national security that showed she is trying to pull support from all of her competitors -- and not just Paul.

Calling national security “a tremendous issue that our next president will be tested on almost immediately,” she sought to present herself as more prepared to be commander in chief than her rivals.

“Of all of the candidates that are running in the race, I am the only one that has current, fresh experience at national security, and it’s because I sit on the intelligence committee in the House,” she said.

She also employed a tactic Rick Perry has been using -- military experience.

“My dad signed up for the Air Force here in Waterloo, Iowa,” she said. “He proudly served our military.”

Since he entered the race in August, Perry has been reminding voters of his military service -- he was a pilot in the Air Force. And he brought with him to Iowa this week a retired Marine, Capt. Dan Moran, to help push the message that he is the candidate most prepared to lead the U.S. military.

For his part, Perry also needled Paul on his Iran comments, telling CNN on Friday that he was surprised by Paul’s stance regarding a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

With Gingrich and Romney out of Iowa this weekend, Bachmann and Perry are barnstorming the state hoping for a surge in the polls. For that to happen, they might need to knock Paul out of the way, and it appears drawing a contrast on defense could be the best way to do so.