Minnesota's Bachmann posing a challenge to Palin, other GOP leaders

Washington, Jan.27 (ANI): Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann is emerging as the standard-bearer for the conservative movement, and is posing a challenge to expected GOP leaders such as Paul Ryan and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Cable chatterers and newspapers are talking just as much about Bachmann as they are about the official Republican responder, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.

Bachmann keeps jumping into the fray, and according to Politico, the Tea Party loves her, the media promotes her, and she is a huge draw on the fundraising circuit.

Representative John Boehner and his allies have kept her out of the leadership and she remains a marginal legislative player, but Bachmann continues to be an oversize presence.

She is a headline grabber, and there's nothing Republicans can do about it.

Bachmann says she didn't mean to challenge the chairman of the Budget Committee.

"She made the case last night, and has in interviews since, that [she] was in no way in competition with any other Republicans," said Bachmann spokesman Doug Sachtleben.

Bachmann represents an anti-establishment tension simmering just below the surface of a unified Republican front, and if Boehner and his allies don't keep a close eye on her base, those divisions could flare up. (ANI)