Rep. Michele Bachmann makes presidential run official

Rep. Michele Bachmann said at the CNN debate that she has filed paperwork to enter the presidential race and plans to make a formal announcement "soon."

(CNN) – Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said Monday at the CNN debate that she had filed paperwork to enter the presidential race and said she plans to make a formal announcement of her candidacy "soon."

Bachmann is the only participant at Monday's debate who has not formally declared her candidacy.

The three-term congresswoman is a darling of the tea party movement and a founding member of the 50-member House Tea Party Caucus. She flirted with a bid for the White House for much of the Spring and now plans to make an official announcement in her home state of Iowa this month.
Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, are born-again Christians, and it was God, she says, who encouraged her to run for higher office. She has since become a champion of conservative values, particularly the vision that government should be limited to only what is in the Constitution.

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