Waterloo native considering 2012 presidential run

Waterloo native Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, is planning a series of meetings in Iowa later this month to discuss, among other things, a 2012 run for president.

“Nothing is off the table,” spokesman Doug Sachtleben told MinnPost, a Minnesota blog.

Bachmann, who has become of darling of Tea Party supporters for her conservative viewpoints and frequent criticism of President Obama, will speak at an Iowans for Tax Relief fundraiser in Des Moines Jan. 21.

She believes the nation can't afford a second Obama term, he said.

“She's been looked to by the Tea Party movement as someone who's a leader,” Sachtleben told MinnPost. “The Tea Party movement sees her in a significant role of speaking up.”

Her Chief of Staff Andy Parrish said Bachmann, an ally of conservative western Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, is planning multiple meetings with Iowans to seek their advice on a 2012 presidential bid. King ids a founding member of her congressional Tea Party Caucus.

“The congresswoman is excited about her first trip to Iowa this year,” Parrish told ABC News. Her meetings are reportedly with “political forces and party elders.”