LYNCHBURG, Va. — Michele Bachmann has exhorted Christian students at Liberty University in Virginia to "not settle" for easy personal and political choices in life.

During a half-hour address to some 10,000 students, she briefly tied a message mostly about personal values and responsibility to an appeal to reject President Barack Obama's agenda, including his health care reforms.

She made no mention of her GOP primary rivals in a talk laced with Scripture that took on the tone of a sermon.

Badly trailing front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney and struggling in national polls, Bachmann sought a breakout moment Wednesday with her base of support - Christian conservatives.

Liberty's chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr., said Bachmann won a recent student straw poll over the GOP field, largely because of her evangelical roots.