Republican Conference Chair Michele Bachmann?

She still has to win her reelection bid today, but Fox News reports that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann may compete for a leadership position within the Republican Party if the GOP successfully regains the majority in the U.S. House. Chad Pergram writes:

Bachmann Interested in Becoming House GOP Conference Chair

FOX has learned that there is a “draft Michele Bachmann” effort afoot among House conservatives (and prospective members) to move the Minnesota Republican into the leadership.

Bachmann has become an increasingly major figure in the Republican Party alongside the rise of the tea party movement this cycle. She is a popular figure at grassroots speaking engagements, and she is the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, which boasted 52 members when it was formed in July. A number of the Republicans expected to win their elections have run under the mantle of the tea party, and are likely to be highly sympathetic to Bachmann’s positions.

She is also a major fundraiser on the national circuit. Her reelection race in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District is the most expensive House race in the country, with Bachmann raising over $11 million this cycle. She also formed a leadership committee called Michele PAC in August, which has raised $349,000 and doled out contributions to various federal candidates.

Current Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence is rumored to be stepping down from his leadership position during the next session of Congress in order to mount either a presidential campaign or a run at Indiana’s governor seat in 2012.