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Palin, Bachmann to headline Tea Party convention.

(CNN) – Sarah Palin will be the main attraction at what's being billed as the "First National Tea Party Convention."

Tea Party Nation announced Wednesday that last year's Republican vice presidential candidate will serve as keynote speaker for the conference, scheduled to take place in Nashville, Tennessee February 4-6. A representative for Palin has confirmed the former Alaska governor's speaking role at the gathering.

The group also announced that Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the gathering as well. The Minnesota Republican has become a hero among many in the conservative movement. A representative for Bachmann confirms her speaking role.

The event could focus the political spotlight on both women. Bachmann has become a rising star, her ascent fueled in part by major support from Tea Party activists. For Palin - currently taking a brief Thanksgiving break from a national tour for her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life" - serving as headliner at a tea party convention could increase speculation that she is weighing a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

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Palin, Bachmann to headline Tea Party convention.

(CNN) – Sarah Palin will be the main attraction at what's being billed as the "First National Tea Party Convention."

Tea Party Nation announced Wednesday that last year's Republican vice presidential candidate will serve as keynote speaker for the conference, scheduled to take place in Nashville, Tennessee February 4-6. A representative for Palin has confirmed the former Alaska governor's speaking role at the gathering.

The group also announced that Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the gathering as well. The Minnesota Republican has become a hero among many in the conservative movement. A representative for Bachmann confirms her speaking role.

The event could focus the political spotlight on both women. Bachmann has become a rising star, her ascent fueled in part by major support from Tea Party activists. For Palin - currently taking a brief Thanksgiving break from a national tour for her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life" - serving as headliner at a tea party convention could increase speculation that she is weighing a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Read the rest of this entry »

(CNN) - Much like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann's name has become a kind of cultural shorthand - a conservative rallying cry and a Jon Stewart punch line.

Both women have inspired a range of merchandise that includes mugs, T-shirts and even action figures. (The miniature Palin outsells Bachmann.)

Tina Fey's unforgettable "Saturday Night Live" impersonations of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Palin featured exact quotes or close paraphrases. And a recently launched line of Bachmann-inspired comic books features the congresswoman's own words as well.

Bachmann occupies an increasingly familiar political niche: the tough-talking, unapologetic conservative woman. The similarities with Palin go beyond a fiery brand of working-class cultural conservatism delivered in a homey twang. Each cut their teeth in culture war fights at the state level and has experienced a relatively recent meteoric ascent to the national stage.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is raising money in Washington on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is holding the first fundraiser for his newly-formed political action committee Thursday night in Washington.

The fundraiser is actually two events: a low-dollar "Pretzel and Pints" event at a popular Capitol Hill bar, and a "Leadership Dinner" at the home of lobbyist John Milne and his wife Deb Anderson where guests are asked to raise or contribute at least $5,000.

The money will go to Pawlenty's "Freedom First" PAC, which was launched at the beginning of the month and gives the governor the ability to travel the country in support of other Republicans as he eyes a possible presidential bid in 2012.

The first event is aimed at introducing Pawlenty to young Republicans and Capitol Hill staffers - the kind of operatives who might make up the backbone of Pawlenty's staff if he seeks the White House.

"A lot of young people are really drawn to Governor Pawlenty's innovative and conservative record," Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant said. "Meeting Pawlenty over some pretzels and pints is a fun bonus."

Four Republican members of Congress from Minnesota are listed as co-hosts: Reps. Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen, as well as lobbyist and former Rep. Vin Weber.

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Rep. Michelle Bachmann said Tuesday that 90 days ought to be set aside to consider the final health care bill in the House.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann said congressional Democrats were not guaranteeing lawmakers enough time to read the final version of health care reform legislation before they vote, telling conservative bloggers Tuesday that the majority party might be more interested in giving President Obama a political victory than in passing an effective plan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently pledged to post the final bill online for at least 72 hours before the House votes. But Bachmann said Pelosi's pledge is not enough.

"Three days is an embarrassment," Bachmann said Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation's weekly blogger lunch. "It shows how embarrassed these Democrats are of their bill. They know this health care bill is radioactive with the American public and if they give the American public more than three days to read this bill, all hell might break loose and they might never get this bill actually passed and done.

"It shows, again, that they have no confidence in their health care bill. They have no confidence in their leadership to be able to explain this bill."
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Rep. Michele Bachmann has said she will not provide much of the more detailed information called for in the 2010 Census form.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A trio of Republican congressmen are calling on a GOP colleague to completely fill out her 2010 Census form, following her vow to provide only basic information about her family.

In a statement released Wednesday, Republican Reps. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, and John Mica of Florida said that "boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."

Bachmann expressed concerns last week about the level of detail demanded in the census form and questioned the federal government's ability to protect her family's personal data.
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Bachmann has already been assured that the United States will not adopt another currency.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced a bill that would prohibit the president from signing on to a global currency, despite congressional testimony from Obama administration officials that they would reject any proposal to replace the dollar.

In hearings earlier this week, the Republican congresswoman called on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to denounce the idea that the United States might adopt any other currency. Both men did.

Bachmann's bill, introduced Wednesday, proposes a constitutional amendment "to prohibit the President from entering into a treaty or other international agreement that would provide for the United States to adopt as legal tender in the United States a currency issued by an entity other than the United States."

During Tuesday's hearing, Bachmann pointed to recent remarks from Russia and China as part of the basis for her concern - comments suggesting that countries which have used the dollar as their reserve currency might begin to consider other sources. But those decisions, which would be made by foreign governments, would be unaffected by any congressional legislation, and would have no impact on U.S. currency decisions.

Bachmann's bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.

Bachmann sounded the socialism alarm on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Some Republicans in Congress are continuing to warn that President Obama is intent on turning the United States into a socialist nation.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann pressed the socialism argument on Thursday, telling a conservative radio show that the Obama administration is "completely socializing the American economy" with its mortgage relief proposals and bailouts of financial institutions.

"What we've seen them do in the last five weeks is nothing short of a great leap forward toward than finalizing a place of socialism in American economic life," Bachmann told radio host G. Gordon Liddy. "We have never seen this level of socialism in the history of our country, and I think the American people would be floored when they understand the dramatic steps that Obama has taken for our future."

Bachmann called for a "a growth future, a prosperity future, a freedom liberty future."

"Will we be a country that will go forward with liberty, freedom and prosperity, or will we be a country that's mired in Eastern European, Western European doldrums, where freedom is limited and taxation remains high?," she asked.

Bachmann wasn't the only House Republican to say as much on Thursday.

Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp, who is also running for governor in his home state, told MSNBC that the president's health care proposals represent "a fast march toward socialism."