With Mrs Palin's political star apparently on the wane after a much-criticised response to the Arizona shootings, Mrs Bachmann appears ready and willing to step into the breach. Although the official Republican response to Mr Obama's address to Congress was made by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Tea Party response by Mrs Bachmann was carried live on CNN.
Mr Ryan, 40, a mild-mannered fiscal policy specialist, was scathing about Mr Obama's policies but maintained a measured tone, speaking with unadorned, straightforward language.
At points, he even praised Mr Obama, stating that "some of his words were reassuring".
In contrast, Mrs Bachmann, who worked as a tax lawyer before becoming a full-time mother, spoke emotively, even provocatively, providing what one Republican strategist described as "red meat for the Tea party crowd".
She described health care reform as "Obamacare" and demanded it be repealed.
"Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which light bulbs to buy and which may put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama's health care bill," she said.
"Obamacare mandates and penalties may even force many job-creators to just stop offering health insurance altogether, unless, of course, yours is one of the more than 222 privileged companies, or unions, that's already received a government waiver under Obamacare."
The response from the traditional Republican base was more muted.
Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, said: "Paul Ryan is giving the official Republican response.
"And Michele Bachmann, just as the other 534 members of the House and Senate, are going to have opinions as to the State of the Union."
Mrs Bachmann, 54, was only elected to Congress in 2006 but is already one of the highest-profile figures on Capitol Hill. A mother of five who has also fostered 23 children, she founded the House of Representatives' Tea Party caucus, has described the Obama presidency as a "gangster" administration, and disclosed that she fasted and prayed for three days before running for Congress.
Her aides have publicly floated the idea of a White House run and on Friday she was in Iowa, the first-voting state.
Mr Obama's annual address was full of olive branches and calls for unity as he addressed a chamber in which members of Congress were sitting beside their opponents in a rare act of solidarity following the grave wounding of their colleague Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson.
Although many Republicans criticised Mr Obama's 61-minute speech as lacking in substance and rather flat, the address proved popular in snap polls. A CBS survey found that 91 per cent approved, compared to 83 per cent a year ago.
White House aides are now much more upbeat about Mr Obama's prospects of re-election, compared to two months ago when Democrats suffered a historic defeat in the November mid-terms.
One of the reasons for their good cheer, they say, is that figures like Mrs Palin and Mrs Bachmann are polarising and while they attract wildly enthusiastic support from conservative activists their popularity with floating voters is very limited.
