WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann will make her first trip to South Carolina as a presidential aspirant later this month, officials with her office confirmed to MinnPost today.

CNN first reported the trip saying both that it would be later this week and also February 19. Bachmann’s office told me the trip will be on the 19th, and CNN has amended their original story to that as well.

South Carolina is currently scheduled to be the third state voting during the 2012 Republican presidential nominating cycle. Bachmann visited first-caucus-in-the-nation Iowa last month for a speech and meetings with local GOP leaders.

“She is obviously exploring her options and seeing what’s out there,” Spartanburg (S.C.) County GOP Chair LaDonna Ryggs told CNN.

Minnesota’s other presidential aspirant, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, has made significant inroads in the Palmetto State already, including several trips there and contributions from his PAC to key players in the Tea Party Republican wave that swept the state in 2010.

Bachmann is in Hawaii today, speaking to a local conservative group there. This weekend, she’ll be in Montana to headline the Lewis and Clark County GOP’s Lincoln-Reagan dinner, at which Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg is expected to announce he’ll run for Senate in what’s likely to be one of the nation’s top 2012 Senate contests.