Merely a celebrity is essentially what Ed Rollins of Michele Bachmann's camp is calling Palin. "Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on "Kilmeade and Friends," according to Politico.

"She got the vice presidential thing handed to her, she didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship," Bachmann's top consultant said.

When asked about the former Alaska governor in late May, Bachmann was more diplomatic than her adviser, saying the two conservatives were friends.

"I compare myself to Barack Obama. Not to any of the other Republican candidates," Bachman told ABC's George Stephanopoulos when he asked the Minnesota congresswoman what sets her apart from Palin. 

"First of all, I want to say I like Sarah Palin a lot. We’re friends and I don’t consider her a competitor. I consider her a friend. But my comparison ultimately is to Barack Obama,” Bachmann said.

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– Tony PierceTwitter.com/busblog

Photo: File photos show former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, left, in California on Feb. 4. and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) in Washington March 31. They are two conservative political rock stars who can work a room and galvanize a crowd, and both are flirting with a run for the White House. Some pundits have noted that both Palin, 47, and Bachmann, 55, boast good looks, conservative family values and a strong Christian faith — similarities suggesting they may cancel each other out in a showdown. Credit: AFP PHOTO / FILES / ROBYN BECK / MANDEL NGAN