Her upstaging of the GOP’s response to the State of the Union address created consternation within the party, but got at least twice the attention and coverage as did Paul Ryan, who delivered the party’s formal response. Ninety percent of politics is showing up. And Bachmann is showing up in Iowa. And she’s creating a lot of excitement among the conservative faithful. And Bachmann would fill the void left by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who decided not to run for president in 2012: She is both a fiscal and social conservative, which is what Iowa Republican primary voters like. If Mike Huckabee doesn’t run, and Palin doesn’t run, that leaves Rick Santorum as Bachmann’s only real competition among these core voters. And he lost his last election by 16 points.

Bachmann’s wooing of the Tea Party vote may pay dividends beyond the base. Rasmussen reports that 48 percent of likely voters say their views on major issues are closer to the average Tea Party member than to the average member of Congress, with 30 percent unsure…

Assessing Bachmann’s strength as a candidate, Karl Rove said to Fox’s Bill O’Reilly: “She’s smart, she’s tough, she’s funny, she’s got a lot of personality and all of that will help her if she throws her hat in the ring.”