Speaking for myself, I never viewed Bachman as leading the ticket, but up until a few months ago, as a possible VP giving her room to grow and learn while also acting as a conservative spokesperson/whip.
Bachman certainly showed no reluctance to accept endorsements from the Tea Party and Sarah and the money produced from her appeals to Hannity and Levin listeners.
Her blocked attempt to obtain a House leadership slot after the election proved to me she didn’t have the political acumen to read that environment correctly, nor had she seemed to have learned enough to establish a working bloc of like minded Reps.
Altogether that was probably my biggest disappointment from her. I started seeing her having more ambition than ability doing no better than a fair job for her district and a generally reliable vote on key issues until the Patriot Act vote
Obviously Bachmann is serious about winning in 2012 and Rollins is a veteran campaign guy. I think we’ve seen for some time now she’s not going the way of Palin with a totally anti-establishment campaign (if Palin is really campaigning). Time will tell how this plays out but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt rather than some here and their knee jerk reactions.