No book has scared away more possible presidential candidates this cycle than Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's Game Change, the definitive "horse race" account of the 2008 presidential race that focuses on making every relevant politician's family life look like utter shit. Haley Barbour and John Thune have already bypassed runs this year largely on account of their spouses wanting no part of the gossip industries that would coalesce around them, and Mitch Daniels is still weighing his decision for similar reasons. But are these pulp novels giving Rep. Michele Bachmann some hesitancy, too?

MinnPost reports that Bachmann, who'd have a not-terrible shot at winning Iowa now that Mike Huckabee's out, has been reading these filthy books cover-to-cover — an achievement in its own right, but one that might give her the willies:

In interviews with MinnPost, Bachmann said that as she prepares to make her decision, she's gone cover-to-cover on "The Politician," a book written by a former John Edwards staffer that details the lengths Edwards went to in order to cover up an affair even as his wife was fighting a recurrence of cancer.

She also read "Game Change," an in-depth account by a pair of veteran political reporters of the 2008 election that allegedly convinced South Dakota Sen. John Thune's wife that she wanted no part of a presidential bid.

"'Game Change' is a book that is very difficult to put down, at least I found it difficult to put down, and it gives a person pause," Bachmann said. "But the other thing that it does, I think, is it informed me of what I don't want to do.

"I'm still a human being, and I still have the values that I stand for, and it tells me that the pursuit of a brass ring, the pursuit of an office, is not worth losing your health, losing your marriage, losing your integrity. That I'm not willing to do."

Blah blah blah just run already. "Integrity," "marriage," "health" — these are such 20th century terms. And shouldn't heretical smut like Game Change be banned in the Bachmann household anyway, along with Aladdin?

[Image via AP]