KING: There's breaking news in presidential politics tonight. CNN has just confirmed that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will make his formal declaration that he's running for president, the Republican nomination for president. He'll make that announcement next Thursday, June 2nd in New Hampshire, the state that is critical, critical to his hopes.

Also tonight more presidential politics, Sarah Palin back on everyone's 2012 political radar in a big way. The former Alaska governor is announcing today that she's beginning a, quote, "One Nation Tour" this weekend. It begins right here in Washington. She'll then take a campaign-style bus, take a look at it right here, to Philadelphia is one stop. New Hampshire is another -- stopping a series of key historic sites along the way.

Now, this is important. The FOX News Channel says Palin will remain a paid contributor, despite renewed speculation her bus tour is the first step in run for president. And that raises an interesting question, has she assured FOX News she's not running, she's just taking this bus tour? Or does FOX News have a different standard for Sarah Palin than it had, say, for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum? We'll continue to track that question.

A short time ago, we spoke with another likely candidate, the Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who says she's confident she can raise enough money to win if she runs and will make her final decision about seeking the Republican nomination within days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: It has absolutely nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the American people and our economy and where we're going to go. And my decision about getting into 2012 or not is a completely independent decision. It doesn't matter if you get into the race or if anyone gets into the race. My decision will be made on whether I think it is the right thing at the right time and we'll let you know in June.

But I do know that no matter who the candidate is on the Republican side, that person needs to be elected because Barack Obama has not been good for our economy, and we've seen millions of jobs lost and they're not turning around, and the dollar has been grossly devalued under this president.

For the sake of our children, we need to have a change in course.

KING: But if the political people came to you and say, Congresswoman, here's our plan, but now that Governor Palin is going to run, it might be harder to raise some money. Iowa would get tougher. South Carolina would get tougher. Are you sure you have the heart for this, the spine for this? Would you blink or would you say, let's go? BACHMANN: My decision will be independent of whichever candidate gets in. I have great respect for Governor Palin. I consider her a friend. And if she gets in, she gets in. That won't -- that won't impact whether or not I get in or not.

KING: Won't impact you at all, huh? There are some who have questioned your discipline if you run for president. So, let's --

BACHMANN: They should watch me.

KING: -- deal with a few things. They should watch you. That's right. You had a conversation with Chris Wallace right after the Libya invasion started, the Libya bombing started where you said, you know, you heard a report from an ambassador in Tripoli that maybe 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 people had been killed. That number was, of course, not anywhere near reliable.

So, some people say, well, Michele Bachmann just sees one little report and goes and quotes it on television. Do you have to work on discipline if you're going to run for president?

BACHMANN: I think it's important to have discipline and a message. That's true. And have I been accurate in everything that I said? No, that's not true, you can fact-check.

But the fact is, I read and I read a lot, and that morning I had read a TV -- or a report by "A.P." and the overall number was correct and it was a number that was given by the ambassador. It wasn't in one particular engagement, but it was the number of people who had been wounded so far. So, that was accurate.

KING: Another thing people cite is when the president was going to India, there was a report in a publication over there that used this wildly exorbitant number about how much his trip would cost. And you for several days were talking about that.

BACHMANN: Well, I was doing again, I was quoting from "The Financial Times." And so, I gave the source that I was quoting from and it was a financial newspaper from India. And so, it isn't my job to go and fact-check sources that come out in publications. So, I was using that quote. But you're right --

KING: It's your job as a candidate, that people -- the left likes to use you as a galvanizer.

BACHMANN: You have a very good point, though, that I think when you're in the presidential realm, I do think that message discipline is required and I think that that is something that, you know, all of us have areas that we need to do better on and that's certainly one that I'll pay a lot of attention to.

KING: I read a fundraising detail under your name just an hour or so ago. It was talking about "our president is too busy gallivanting around Europe with his Irish cousins, to focus on rebuilding our economy and strengthening our nation." Now, people have a lot of fun in fundraising letters. But a President Bachmann would never take a personal detour on a very important overseas trip for a G-8 summit or sitting down with the prime minister of the United Kingdom?

BACHMANN: Well, of course, presidents take trips. But remember, I think if the shoe was on the other foot and we had a Republican as president and we just saw the devastation in Joplin, Missouri, and we see the president of the United States playing ping-pong on TV and we see him serving up hamburgers -- in a day we're not dealing with devastation in the heartland of the United States, that would be fine for the president to be out doing these things. I don't fault him for that. And it's actually a small thing in the scheme of things.

The bigger issue that we have to address, John, is dealing with the economy and jobs, quite honestly, and the president has not had his eyes on job creation. His idea of job creation was borrowing $1 trillion from China and spending it on pr projects that didn't increase jobs. Now, you can't walk away from that. That's a fact. That's exactly what happened.

So, now, my children and your children and your viewers' children have to work that much longer to pay back the trillion dollars that didn't yield jobs. That's a decision that our president made that has very real consequences negatively for the next generation. We can't just afford those mistakes.

KING: Many more questions I'd like to ask you. But we're out of time.

So, let me ask you this: we have a Republican presidential debate in just a few weeks in New Hampshire, will I see you there?

BACHMANN: That may happen. We'll let you know very soon.

KING: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, appreciate your time.

BACHMANN: Thank you, John.

KING: Thank you.