bachmann cnn“Where is Michele Bachmann headed?” asks CNN.com in a longish story that charts her rise alongside Sarah Palin’s. Once upon a time the Sixth District congresswoman had to prime the pump to get speculation about her future flowing. Now it comes almost unbidden as part of the Bachmann media overdrive.

Talk of Palin in the White House opened the door for media discussion of Bachmann’s own presidential prospects, which otherwise might’ve seemed far-out.

In March, she disavowed interest in becoming leader of the free world, but a Fox News profile at the time envisioned her in the governor’s mansion or the U.S. Senate.

Then in August, World Net Daily asked Bachmann if she would “one day run for the presidency.” Her reply:

If I felt that’s what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it. When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I’ve said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That’s really my standard.

In September, she told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher:

Also with women politicians, they want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they’re doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don’t have a prominent national voice.

CNN’s story today, days after her high-profile rally on the U.S. Capitol steps, relies on that statement from September to answer (in part) the question posed in its headline. But she doesn’t need to say it anymore because, as CNN tells it:

The overall scope of the outreach effort is unusual for a second-term member and has sparked speculation that Bachmann could be laying the foundation for higher office.

But Bachmann’s effort to stay in her current post will be one of the top 10 races (of any kind) to watch in 2010, according a new listing by Politico, where yesterday she drew mention as an exception to “The GOP’s women problem.”