Bachmann to set up election committee

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann will form a presidential exploratory committee and file papers for the committee in early June, sources said.

However, Bachmann could form the exploratory committee even earlier than June so she could participate in early GOP presidential debates, a source close to the conservative congresswoman told CNN Thursday.

"She's been telling everyone early summer," the source told CNN regarding Bachmann's planned June filing and announcement.

However, the source said, "If you [debate sponsors] come to us and say, 'To be in our debates, you have to have an exploratory committee,' then we'll say, 'Okay, fine ... I'll go file the forms.'"

Three planned GOP presidential primary debates include one May 2 at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California and another on May 5 in South Carolina.

CNN said it plans a GOP presidential primary debate in New Hampshire in early June.

Bachmann reportedly intends to have political teams in place in New Hampshire, home to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, and South Carolina, host of the first presidential primary in the South.

"I should have state directors in all those states within a week," Bachmann Chief of Staff Andy Parrish said.