Bachmann, Palin Accept Tea Party Convention Invites

Michele Bachmann might have to play second-fiddle to Sarah Palin, but she still gets to go to Opryland.

Bachmann’s office confirmed Wednesday morning that she has accepted an invitation to speak at the First National Tea Party Convention at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville Feb. 4-6. She’s been booked as one of the breakfast speakers.

An unabashed conservative running for her third-term in Minnesota’s Sixth District next year, Bachmann has become something of a folk hero in the Tea Party movement that coalesced in town hall meetings last summer against the Democrats’ health reform plans, which they see as a massive government takeover of the health insurance business.