Using the Republican Candidates’ Debate on CNN last night as a launching platform, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann began her campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite, is the first female contender to throw her hat into the ring.

Rep. Michele Bachmann is not some demure little flower.   She made this statement within a fundraising letter, sent out within one hour of her announcement:

We cannot risk giving President Obama four more years to dismantle our nation. We must act now. That’s why I’ve made the decision to get in this race.

According to her official biography at bachmann.house.gov:

Elected in 2006, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota. From the beginning, Congresswoman Bachmann has demonstrated bold reform, pushing to fix Washington’s broken ways. Every day she puts her constitutional conservative values to work as she represents the people of Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, a district which contains parts of six counties, stretching from Stillwater past St. Cloud, including suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Congresswoman Bachmann is a leading advocate for tax reform, a staunch opponent of wasteful government spending, and a strong proponent of adherence to the Constitution, as intended by the Founding Fathers.

…Prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, Bachmann served in the Minnesota State Senate. She was elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 2000 where she championed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Before that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney, working on hundreds of civil and criminal cases.

…Congresswoman Bachmann also led the charge on education issues in Minnesota calling for the abolishment of Goals 2000 and the Profiles of Learning in its school. She recognized the need for quality schools and subsequently started a charter school for at-risk kids in Minnesota.

Congresswoman Bachmann sits on the Financial Services Committee (FSC) and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The FSC is tasked with oversight of numerous financial sectors including housing, real estate and banking.

…Serving on the Intelligence Committee was a welcomed opportunity for Congresswoman Bachmann as she has consistently advocated peace through strength to ensure America’s national security. As a mother of five children and 23 foster children, she has a deep appreciation for that portion of the Oath of Office in which members of Congress vow to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

In July 2010 Congresswoman Bachmann hosted the first Tea Party Caucus meeting because she saw the need for Tea Partiers to have a listening ear in Congress. She is seen as a champion of Tea Party values including the call for lower taxes, renewed focus on the Constitution and the need to shrink the size of government.

Congresswoman Bachmann is a graduate of Anoka High School and Winona State University. She received her J.D. at the O.W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University and an L.L.M. in Tax Law at the College of William and Mary. She has been married to Marcus for more than thirty years and they live in Stillwater where they own a small business mental health care practice that employs nearly fifty people. The Bachmanns have five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In addition, the Bachmanns have opened their home to 23 foster children, which has inspired Congresswoman Bachmann to become one of Congress’ leading advocates for foster and adopted children, earning her bipartisan praise for her efforts.

Bachmann brings the qualities of high energy, charisma and proven fundraising ability to the Republican Primaries. She does not back down from her beliefs and backs them up with a quick wit and biting commentary., as MSNBC’s Chris Matthews found out on the night of November 2nd, 2010:

As I have been profiling the Republican Candidates, I have been reviewing what they stand for by stacking them up to the infallible measurement of the three-legged stool of Reagan Conservatism.

How does Rep. Michele Bachman measure up?

1.  Fiscal Conservatism – From her own biography, quoted above:

Congresswoman Bachmann is a leading advocate for tax reform, a staunch opponent of wasteful government spending, and a strong proponent of adherence to the Constitution, as intended by the Founding Fathers.

Fiscal Conservativism – Check!

2.  Social Conservatism – On the second Monday in April, Bachmann spoke to a crowd of around 200 during a visit to the University of Iowa.

Bachmann told the crowd that marriage between a man and a woman is a foundation block for a strong America, but marriage has been under attack. She also noted the financial implications of pregnancies to unwed mothers, through welfare and other government spending. She said:

Social conservatism is fiscal conservatism. “You can’t separate” the two.

Social Conservativism – Check!

3.  National Defense – On May 4th, she issued the following stateconcerning Defense Spending on her website, bachmann.house.gov:

Our government is in a fiscal crisis. As debt skyrockets, the spending decisions before us in the coming months and years will have a deep impact on the future of our nation. Lawmakers and the American public must debate the merits and faults of each category of spending. But, as we work to reverse the tide of deficit spending, I urge that we exercise great caution before anyone takes a scalpel to the defense budget.

Adequate funding is critical for our military, intelligence, and security agencies to fulfill their Constitutional duty to provide for the common defense. This is not a partisan issue and must not be a political one either. While the numbers are negotiable, and specific programs should be fully vetted, the underlying responsibility is undeniable. Defense funding deserves a high place in the priorities of this, and any, Congress.

National Defense – Check!

Per reporter Brian Bakst, of the Associated Press, in an article published in the Houston Chronicle:

Her popularity with tea party activists and her credentials as a social conservative make her a credible threat to other candidates courting conservatives who make up the core of the Republican Party.  Her impact may be felt most in Iowa, the first stop in the nomination battle and where Christian evangelicals dominate.

While she hasn’t built the broad campaign infrastructure of some GOP rivals, she has gradually patched together a blend of tested and fresh-but-determined advisers. She’s also shown an ability to raise money from a network of small-dollar donors, including $13.5 million she put toward the nation’s most expensive House race of 2010.

While Bachman is a staunch Reagan Conservative and a leader of of the new Conservaitve Vanguard of the GOP, does she have enough national support and name recognition to garner the party’s Presidential Nomination?

As this time, that seems to be a daunting task for this firebrand.

However, her efforts should be fun to watch.