Bachmann answers "the fun questions" at National Press Club forum

She hammered home her points on the debt and government spending in her speech, but the Minnesota congresswoman couldn't control the topics of the questions she received during the Q+A given the venue of the event: the National Press Club.

The moderator of the session, the Associated Press' Mark Hamrick, peppered Bachmann with a "potpourri" of questions, as he described it, offering Press Club members and journalists on hand a more candid look at the politician who has been called "the queen of the Tea Party."

We learned that like President Obama, she's an iPad user - "Thank God for iPads; I love them," she said. But she also declared her "love affair with the printed page" because she enjoys jotting notes in the margins.

She said she is an avid reader, and that she checks out what she called "left-leaning media," naming MSNBC, The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

Bachmann picked Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman as her favorite Republican and Democratic presidents - another thing she has in common with the president, who has also cited both Lincoln and Truman as among his favorite presidents.

And move over Ronald Reagan, Bachmann's all-time favorite president is George Washington.

The Republican also faced some tough questions, which she jokingly referred to as "the fun questions."

When asked about her husband's controversial Minnesota clinic, which has been reported to offer reparative therapy to convert homosexuals, Bachmann punted.

"I'm extremely proud of my husband; I have tremendous respect and admiration for him. We'll celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary this coming September. But I am running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency - neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is (sic) our foster children," she replied.

On Bachmann's reported personal use of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack to help finance her home, despite having publicly criticized the lending companies, Bachmann offered a slight jab before answering the question.

"Unlike all of you, who I'm sure pay cash for your homes, there are people out there like myself who have to go to bank and get a mortgage, and this is the problem. It's almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved," she said, adding, "We need to get the federal government out of these programs and out of these loans."

Showing she was prepared for the grilling, the often folksy Bachmann explained, "I am running for the presidency of the United States, and I have no doubt that every jot and tittle of my life will be fully looked at and inspected prior to November 2012."

Does she think the so-called "mainstream media" has been fair in their Bachmann coverage?

"When my husband and I made the decision to seek the office of the presidency of the United States, we considered what would be involved. We knew that this would be a momentous journey and it would take every bit of our stamina and everything that we had, and we knew that it would be tough. But also I think that I had a rare advantage, and that's the fact that when I grew up, I had three brothers and no sisters. And there is no better preparation for politics that a girl could ever have than that. And one thing that the boys in my family learned very quick is: don't pick on your sister. It's not gonna work," she said.

"You told me that at the end of today's session," the moderator joked.

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