Michele Bachmann: A Books Reading List For Tea Partiers and the Curious

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann launches her campaign for president today as a new Des Moines Register poll puts her in second place among Republicans in Iowa. Twenty-two percent of likely GOP voters support her there, just behind frontrunner Mitt Romney, with 23 percent.

So who is the third-term representative and Tea Partier? Here's a guide to the spare book offerings on her so far:

1) Michele Bachmann's America, which was just published on June 20 on the Kindle, stakes a claim to being the first book about her career. It is written by two Minnesota writers, William Prendergast and Christopher Truscott, who have covered her career since 2003 and 2004, respectively.

Prendergast blogs about politics for Minnesota Progressive Project and Daily Kos, and Truscott has written two political novels, titled Stumbling Forward and A Referendum on Conscience.

Michele Bachmann's America (Cole Dixon Publishing, $7.99) is about 55,000 words, and currently ranks #100 on the Kindle Store's Ideologies list.

2) A guy named Ron Paul Jones is seeking to make Bachmann books his own cottage industry. In the last month and a half he has published Michele Bachmann: Why She Will Win the Presidency in 2012, Michele Bachmann: A to Z (which is apparently a good book for introducing Bachmann to children), Romney vs. Bachmann, Obama vs. Bachmann, and (of course) President Bachmann's Cabinet.

The first title, on why she will win, is just 40 pages. Reason #1: Sarah Palin will not run.

Palin has derived many rewards from running for vice president in 2008, and the perception is that McCain lost that election, so Palin herself does not carry the 'loser' label, Jones writes. McCain actually did lose the election.

But anyway, Jones continues that Palin will not want to risk being a loser by running in 2012 and losing in the primaries, like Giuliani, Lieberman or Edwards. And without Palin as competition, Michele Bachmann will be able to attract a lot of Palin supporters, including women and people who want a woman president.

3) The best title, hands down, is Somewhere Over the Pachyderm Rainbow: Living in an Elephant-Controlled 2010 Election Diorama, which has assorted political poetry musings by Maplewood, Minnesota native Jennifer C. Wolfe.

Wolfe takes on conservatives: Her scalpel leaves the 'elephant' crippled and drowning in a pool of its own speculation, conspiracy theories, and fear mongering. How's that for an image?

Bachmann poems include The Loudest, Most Logic-Challenged Voice in the Room and the harsh Cup of Darjeeling?

4) The Wit & Wisdom of Michelle Bachmann, by Hedda Lettuce, makes quite a statement about the candidate: it has nothing inside. The book describes itself as the greatest gag gift for the Bachmann lover or hater, and a novelty notepad more than anything else. It's 100 pages and costs $5.25. The maker suggests you buy a few and give 'em out at your next political rally, tea party confab, or trailer park convention.

Edward B. Colby is the Books editor of the International Business Times. He can be reached at e.colby@ibtimes.com.