Michele Bachmann to formally announce Oval Office run in Iowa
| Des Moines, Iowa
Republican Michele Bachmann plans to formally launch her campaign for president on Monday from her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa, a campaign aide said Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Alice Stewart told The Associated Press that the three-term Minnesota congresswoman would formally announce her 2012 GOP presidential bid in the community where she spent her childhood.
Last week, Bachmann filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to seek the GOP nomination. She announced her candidacy during a nationally televised debate from New Hampshire.
Bachmann, who represents a suburban Minneapolis district, has spent months signaling her interest in running. She has traveled to Iowa four times this year to meet with Republican leaders and conservative activists who are influential in the state's caucuses, which begin the presidential nominating process.
She has also lined up a team of top Iowa staff to guide her campaign.
Bachmann could do well in the caucuses as a native and neighbor. She also is liked by social conservatives and tea party activists, both of whom are key parts of the state's Republican base.
Bachmann, 55, was born in Waterloo and lived in neighboring Cedar Falls until moving to Minnesota at age 12.
"The focus of this tour is to highlight the journey from her personal life to her political career," Stewart said.
Bachmann plans to give a speech Monday at a restored historic mansion in Waterloo, and then travel from Iowa to New Hampshire and South Carolina, both of which are scheduled to hold their primaries following the Iowa caucus.
