While Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) is well-known for her small army of foster children, it's another group of youngsters that she credits with her 2008 re-election, Mother Jones reported.
It was the nearly six dozen 12 to 19-year-old homeschooled kids who went door to door for Bachmann who helped her hold onto her House seat. The kids were members of Generation Joshua, a group that trains homeschooled kids for political organizing. For Bachmann, who sees herself as the future leader of the Republican Party, these are her would-be future constituents.
Which is why they will again be a force to be reckoned with in her presidential bid.
Bachmann is an advocate for homeschooling, and has educated her biological children that way. The national homeschooling advocacy community has given back in kind for her loud support. In addition to manpower from Generation J, spinoff group Home School Legal Defense Association PAC has donated money and manpower to Bachmann's campaigns the last three election cycles.
Already, she is courting homeschool-centric endorsements, speaking in favor of the Family Education Freedom Act, a tax credit that would make homeschooling parents eligible for a voucher up to $5,000 per child.
Her tea party values of separation of government and the home certainly fit the homeschool advocates' ideals, but there's no telling whether she or Ron Paul, also a high-profile champion of homeschool rights but not a homeschooling parents himself, will reap benefits in 2012.
"We often hear that there aren’t young people in the Republican Party," Bachmann said in her 2008 congressional victory speech. "I'm here to tell you that couldn't be further from the truth."
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