A fron- page New York Times profile of Michele Bachmann today highlights her role as a foster mom.
Says the story with a Stillwater, Minn., dateline:
In Washington, she has grabbed the spotlight as a staunch fiscal conservative and brash Tea Party leader. But a look at her life here shows that it was her role as a mother, both to her biological children and to her adolescent foster daughters, that spurred her to seek public office.
Mrs. Bachmann’s political awakening began with her deep disenchantment with the public school system. She helped found a charter school that briefly ran afoul of the state when some parents contended that its curriculum was infused with Christian teachings, and her first run for office was a failed bid for the local school board.
The writer didn’t get any new Bachmann interviews, though.
Mrs. Bachmann has offered few details about her foster children, and for privacy reasons their names have never been made public. Both the congresswoman — who has said she was inspired by foster parents in her church — and her husband, Marcus, a psychologist who runs a Christian counseling center here, declined requests for interviews. But she did give her brother, Dr. Paul Amble, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at Yale, permission to speak.
“These are kids that have a lot of challenges and have had some difficult home lives that they are coming from,” Dr. Amble said. “I think Michele and Marcus both had a real heart for that.”
The story also talks about her battles over local education in the 1990s, culminating with her first run for office: a school board race, which she lost.
