Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the "Star Tribune" that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel "Burr" and claimed that "was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican.