Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann has officially ender her bid to be the Republican presidential candidate for the 2012 election.
Bachmann is an attorney, and the founder of the House of Representatives' Tea Party caucus.
Her family - husband Marcus and five children - has provided foster care for 23 teenage girls.
Bachmann defines herself as a constitutional conservative, and while she was campaigning for the nomination listed among her top priorities:
- Job creation
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- 'Strengthen the family and defend marriage'
- Bring US$1.2 trillion into the US by temporarily making the tax rate zero on repatriated funds
- Repeal Obama's health care reforms
- Cut government spending by abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government-sponsored mortgage providers), cut government jobs and reduce government salaries
- Repeal the Dodd-Frank act that aimed to increase transparency in the finance industry after the global financial crisis.
She is staunchly anti-abortion.
Bachmann is of Norwegian Lutheran heritage, but has since become an evangelical Christian and worked as a researcher on a book that argued the US should return to its Christian theocratic roots.
Her family were Democrats, but she decided to become a Republican after reading a Gore Vidal novel that was critical of the United States' founding fathers.
Her campaign manager recently defected to rival candidate Ron Paul.
Watch one of Michele Bachmann's campaign videos:
