The Fast Fix: President Bachmann?

Michele Bachmann makes a compelling and confident 2012 Presidential candidate. She needs to keep that spark up--but avoid a tendency to misspeak as she moves forward.

If you haven't heard of Michele Bachmann yet, you will soon enough.

The Minnesota Republican Congresswoman officially enters the 2012 presidential race today in Waterloo, Iowa. She'll also make trips to New Hampshire and South Carolina to declare her intentions.

Bachmann has been in the U.S. House since 2006 and has rapidly emerged as one of its most outspoken and controversial members.

Her comments that Barack Obama might hold "anti-American" views during the 2008 election nearly cost her her seat.

But she's emerged as a champion of the tea party for her willingness to stake out conservative positions on the federal debt, slashing government spending and virtually every other issue. That has turned her into a very hot commodity in the GOP these days.

And Bachmann has a compelling personal story to tell. She is the mother of five children of her own and 23 foster kids, a point she made repeatedly during her stand-out performance at a presidential debate in New Hampshire earlier this month.

The question for Bachmann is how she handles the national spotlight that will shine brightly on her in the coming weeks and months. She's shown a tendency to misspeak -- she recently said that the battle of Lexington and Concord happened in New Hampshire -- and has to avoid those sorts of unforced errors as a declared candidate.

But, to borrow a phrase from the recently concluded NBA draft, Bachmann has tremendous upside.

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