A rock star on the campaign trail, Bachmann yields little influence on the Hill

Rep. Michele Bachmann has emerged as a leading voice opposed to raising the nation’s borrowing limit, rejecting the White House’s contention that failing to do so could have catastrophic consequences and arguing that the country could use a little bit of “tough love.”

Rather than promoting her views in the back rooms of Congress, however, the Republican presidential candidate has preferred venues where she wields a lot more power: on the campaign trail, where in recent weeks she has attained rock-star status, and in front of the television cameras that gave her a start as a conservative firebrand.