I love Bachmann and would gladly vote for her but can she win the general election? I’m not 100% convinced.

(USA Today) — Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann is taking steps to form an exploratory committee to run for president in 2012, CNN reports.

Bachmann, a third-term Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, could file the papers for the exploratory committee by June and then formally announce her presidential campaign, the report said.

This week, ex-Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty became the first major GOP presidential candidate to form such a committee for a White House bid.

The CNN report suggests Bachmann’s timetable is being driven, in part, by a set of early presidential debates that begin in May.