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Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 3:45 PM UTC

Michele Bachmann is running for president now, sigh

The Tea Party caucus leader figures out another way to get on television

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Topics: Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., War Room, 2012 Elections, Republican Party,

Michele Bachmann is running for president now, sighRep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., poses for a picture with a birthday cake for President Ronald Reagan at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)(Credit: AP)

Well, now there are two Minnesotans in the 2012 race, despite the fact that the Constitution strictly states that no Minnesotan will ever reach office higher than vice president. Michele Bachmann, three-term congresswoman with no accomplishments beyond an ability to enrage Chris Matthews, will form an exploratory committee, according to CNN.

She plans on forming the committee in the early summer, but she could move sooner if debate organizers tell her she needs to be a formal candidate to participate, because she is just doing this to be on television.

A presidential run might lead the press to dig into Bachmann’s weird past. While her every idiotic statement shoots across the Internet at lightning speed, no one has seriously examined her gradual shift from anti-gay small-town bigot evangelical Christian social-con to national Tea Partying Constitution-studying Ron Paul acolyte. And maybe someone at a debate (Newt?) will bring up the fact that Bachmann once belonged to a church that literally considers the pope to be the Antichrist. That’d be good for a laugh.

The one nice thing about Bachmann doing this is that it means it will be even harder for poor Tim Pawlenty to get any press attention.

Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.

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