DJ, if the U.S. Senate is “beneath her at this point, “ then Governor Palin is in a quandary, because the presidency appears to be unattainable unless she takes on another office and proves her competence. She was governor of Alaska for, what, 3 years? And she would have last served in office, whether elected or alpointed, 7 years before the 2016 presidential elections, without even running for office in the interim. If she wants to be president someday—and she’s certainly young enough to wait until 2020 or 2024—she needs to do something other than talk on TV, send Tweets and campaign for a few Republican candidates. Dan Quayle, who had loads of more experience than she did, failed to run for governor or Senator in Indiana or Arizona after Bush-Quayle list reelection in 1992, and when he ran for president in the 2000 cycle he had become a has-been, overtaken by newbies such as George W. Bush who won two gubernatorial elections during Quayle’s political hiatus. Palin took 4 years off to make some money, and it’s her right to do so, but if she wants to run for lresident she’s gonna need some more experience than “I was elected governor of a small state a decade ago, and served for 3 years.”
As for Governor Parnell, he has already said that he’s running for reelection in 2014. The Lt. Gov. (Treadwell?) is thinking about running against Senator Begich. I hope that the Lt. Gov. runs, because, as impressive as Joe Miller is on paper, Miller has proven that he’s a terrible general-election candidate.
I think she should relocate full time to Arizona and succeed Jan Brewer as Governor. The subsequent face-offs with DC over immigration issues would give her all the prominence she needs.
If she has it in mind to run in 2016 for President, to run for the Senate next year would be a needless distraction. She’d have to start running for the Presidency at almost exactly the time she’d enter into the Senate. Begich could score points asking her, “Are you going to be a full time Senator and devote the full 6 years to Alaska, or are you running for President ?” In Begich’s case, he could answer truthfully that he wasn’t going to be running for President. Simply put, she wouldn’t have the time to devote to the office unless she made a promise that she had no intention to run in 2016 and would not until 2020 or 2024, as you cited.
In 2011, the Palins bought a house in the Phoenix suburbs. I believe its in Ben Qualye’s old house district. They shuffle their time between AK and AZ. Willow Palin, one the Palin daughters, goes to a vocation school in Phoenix. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years, one of the Palin children will run for Congress in AZ. After all, alot of Palin staffers work for Paul Gosar.