I have said this for almost two years.....when she stepped down from Governor she started her 2012 campaign
I agree, I believe (and have since Barry’s immaculation) that she’s running. Re the “money grubbing” line of thought, there simply is no gold-digging i her or her family’s background. They certainly weren’t wealthy pre-2008 and all signs seemed to point that they were very comfortable with their lives. She did not seek fame/fortune; McCain and the VP nomination came to her. Her popularity and notoriety has come from her positions, personality and hard work (name another politician who so boldly and tirelessly supported the Tea Party - even when it wasn’t “cool”). And, an earlier post about her “unconventional” political campaigns was spot on - the only conventional one she has run was the one McCain forced her to (and we know how that ended up).
Furthermore, in spite of the polls and pundits (of all stripes now), can any reasonable person not envision that a Palin annoucement - even in June or July - won’t immediately suck the oxygen out of the “establishment” Pubbie campaigns? There hasn’t been a single GOP politician in recent memory who has been able to draw and energize crowds while showing extraordinary retail political skills.
And, if you’re not running, and you don’t have a past history of lots of foreign travel, you don’t make your first major int’l trip to India of all places!
I can’t say whether or when Palin will throw her hat in the ring. But, she has run a national campaign, and thus is not Fred Thompson or Rudy Guiliani. In a field in which no announced candidate has captured any public spark and the only potential one generating any buzz has spent money supporting liberal politicians than conservatives, I don’t believe the field is in any way “locked” to a late-announcer.