Reports: Bachmann Inks Book Deal

Presidential candidates routinely release a memoir or patriotic tome of some kind in conjunction with launching their campaigns. It’s a way to add some substance — and personal color — to the image their consultants are carefully crafting. Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” was hugely successful in building enthusiasm around his candidacy in 2006-2008, and John McCain’s various books (coauthored with longtime speechwriter Mark Salter) helped solidify his Vietnam warrior image and his following in the Beltway media as a “maverick.”

So it’s noteworthy that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), having gained some momentum with a widely praised performance — notorious for saying things like Congressional Democrats are “un-American” — at the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire earlier this week, will roll out a memoir of her own:

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has made a deal to publish her memoir, selling a book to Sentinel, a conservative imprint at Penguin Group USA, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday.

Ms. Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite who announced her presidential candidacy during the Republican debate on Monday, has been shopping her memoir for weeks, meeting with several New York publishers to discuss a possible deal.

The book is tentatively expected to be released this fall. John Fund, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, will assist with the writing of the book.

One person who saw Ms. Bachmann’s proposal said the book was largely biographical, an account of the formation of her political and economic ideas. Ms. Bachmann was “very impressive” in her meetings with publishers, winning over the skeptics in the room, the person said.

Sentinel is the same, “skeptical” publisher that released books such as 2005’s “The Truth About Hillary,” which implied the then-Senator and former first lady was a lesbian. [NYT]