Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) used Monday’s New Hampshire Republican debate to make a little news, announcing that she had filed the paperwork to make her run for president official.
Her intentions weren’t exactly a mystery — this was a presidential debate, after all — but Bachmann letting slip that she had filed the papers for her candidacy earlier that day was the first official confirmation of her intentions.
On Twitter, Bachmann’s new presidential account “TeamBachmann” blasted out the news shortly after the debate announcement: “I’m in. RT if you’ll join my campaign for President of the United States: http://www.michelebachmann.com #cnndebate.”
Observers credited Bachmann with a strong performance early on in the debate. She was particularly animated on a question from a self-described “mainstream Republican” running State Senate in New Hampshire on how candidates would treat non-Tea Party GOP voters.
“What I’ve seen is, unlike how the media has tried to wrongly and grossly portray the Tea Party, the Tea Party is really made up of disaffected Democrats, independents. … It’s a wide swath of American coming together and I think that’s why the left fears it so much.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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