Republican House representative and former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has declared she won't seek reelection in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District when her current term is up in 2014.

Bachmann's ill-fated presidential campaign is currently under investigation by federal authorities for possible fiscal impropriety with campaign funds. Bachmann insists that has nothing to do with her decision not to run next year.

"I have decided next year I will not seek a fifth Congressional term," Bachmann said in a video announcement. "This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff."

The Tea Party firebrand won a loyal following among conservative Republicans during the early stages of the last presidential campaign in 2011. She won the Ames, Iowa straw poll, forcing out moderate Tim Pawlenty and sifting the entire field of Republican candidates to the right.

But her far right policies and regular media gaffes hurt her as the campaign progressed. She came in sixth place in the Iowa Caucus and withdrew from the race the next day.

Bachmann has long been vilified by the left for her extremely conservative views and reactionary opposition to virtually everything that comes out of the Obama White House. In 2012, she barely won reelection to her House seat, fending off a challenge by local businessman and moderate Democrat Jim Graves by only 4,200 votes, about 1 percent of the vote.

Graves already announced he would challenge Bachmann for the seat again in 2014, and after her announcement he says he will still continue to seek election next year. Bachmann also insisted her close call in 2012 has nothing to do with this latest choice.

"My decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected to Congress," she said. "If I ran I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year."

Of course, without a constituency to represent, Bachmann becomes a free political agent, much like former vice-presidential candidate and Alaskan mayor Sarah Palin, who has built a cottage industry out of her image and copious punditry.

Bachmann would have two years to explore another run at the White House, While her announcement didn't mention that possibility explicitly, she didn't rule anything out. "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political area or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation for future generations," she said.

Democrats are split over the implications of another Bachmann presidential campaign. They would be happy if she were no longer in the national spotlight, so a protracted campaign and a slew of political ads would be unwelcome.

A Bachmann candidacy would also be sure to fail, even if she somehow won the Republican nomination. Still, she could act as an early spoiler, much as she did in 2012, driving the discourse to the right.

But first, Bachmann and her team will need to handle the current ethics investigation, the results of which could determine her political future.