With both Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee having backed out of the 2012 presidential race in the last week, we've started to get worried about the snore-inducing field of Republican candidates left, such as Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney. Who will entertain us with pull-quote gaffes? Where will SNL find material to fill up a whole season? And for the love of God, who will play bass at the RNC? Thankfully, one Tea Party darling wants to make sure we can all still find something to laugh about next election season: Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann hasn't officially announced her candidacy just yet, but all indications point to her doing so in the next week or so—if she really wanted to make us happy, she could announce on Saturday, aka Judgement Day. So how is everyone so sure that she's running? Let us list the ways:

  • Her advisers put out the word on Monday that a run was “very likely” and a D.C.-based consultant tells Power Play that Bachmann associates have been shopping for services. "This is now beyond speculation. They are doing this,” the consultant told FoxNews. Also, there is now a thing called "Bachmania," which definitely sounds like something you might need a Doctor's prescription to treat.
  • One of her senior advisors told CBS, "Michele has been receiving an outpouring of encouragement to run for president--increased phone calls and online messaging," said a senior adviser. "I can now say it is very likely she will decide to run for president."
  • She said yesterday that her phone's off the hook, but she's not: "Our phones have been ringing off the hook. Our Facebook has been lit up. Our donations are pouring in, and people are saying 'Michele, jump in. We want you to run." She followed that by adding she would most likely announce her decision before the start of June.
  • She's in NYC this week...securing a book deal! As is now "required" for any eligible political candidate, Bachmann has to make sure her first book will be out relatively soon. We hope she keeps the working title: First Step 2 Forever: Tea For Bachmann.

If you spot Bachmann in NYC, snap a pretty picture and send it to us at [email protected], or tag it on Flickr as "Gothamist." Of course, she'll have at least two substantial hurdles ahead of her before any of us take her seriously as the serious candidate full of serious ideas that she seriously is: she'll have to defeat 16-year-old NJ high schooler Amy Meyers in a civics debate. And of course, she will have to cut off the head of a certain immortal grizzly momster from Alaska.