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Michele Bachmann Step Closer To Presidential Run

Tracy Bloom |
March 24, 2011 | 1:59 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Rep. Michele Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is the latest Republican to consider a possible presidential run in 2012, according to CNN. The three-term conservative Congresswoman and Tea Party favorite is planning to file the paper work to form an exploratory in early June, the cable news network reported on Thursday. An announcement of her candidacy is likely to happen around the same time.

"She's been telling everyone early summer," a source close to Bachmann told CNN, adding that the congresswoman could file even earlier so she can participate in the early Republican presidential debates. ""If you [debate sponsors] come to us and say, 'To be in our debates, you have to have an exploratory committee,' then we'll say, 'Okay, fine...I'll go file the forms.'"

Doug Sachtleben, Bachmann's communications director said: "She'll make a decision about 2012 this summer, and the timeline will unfold as it does along the way."

The first presidential debate is scheduled for May 2 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The second is slated to take place in South Carolina on May 5.

CNN also reported that Bachmann will likely hire Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorensen (R-IA) to be her political director in that state.

The Star Tribune reported: "Sorenson, a Tea Party figure with a strong evangelical following in Iowa, accompanied Bachmann Thursday to a meeting of the Iowa Senate Republican caucus at the Iowa Statehouse. She also had plans to meet with Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad."

A Bachmann aide indicated that she will also be forming political teams in other early primary states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Bachmann posted the CNN article to her Facebook page this afternoon, writing simply: "Read a little something on CNN......"

Some Republicans, however, think Bachmann's possible presidential candidacy is bad for the party. GOP consultant Mike Murphy weighed in, writing on Time's website that: "this is good news for the media and bad news for the GOP. The press will be delighted, with a new gaff-prone carnival candidacy to snicker at. It is pure gold for the writers' room at Saturday Night Live.

"But for the Republican party? A headache, pure and simple. President Obama can be defeated in 2012, but it will not be easy and the election will not in any way be about the tiny sliver of voters that a Bachmann for President campaign would appeal to. Instead, the vital swing voters who will decide the 2012 election will look at Michele Bachmann on the campaign trail and howl like villagers getting their first torch-lit glimpse of Frankenstein's monster. They will stampede quickly in the opposite direction, away from the GOP."

Bachmann is the second Minnesota politician this week to make waves in the presidential race. Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced earlier this week that he was forming an exploratory committee. Forming a committee allows a candidate to begin raising money for their campaign.



 

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