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Sarah Palin sparks 2012 elections speculation
POLITICO ^ | 05/25/11 | ANDY BARR

Posted on 05/27/2011 3:51:37 PM PDT by reformjoy

Palin moves spark 2012 speculation

By: Andy Barr
May 25, 2011 07:41 PM EDT

Sarah Palin is fond of saying she’ll feel compelled to run for president “if nobody else were to step up.”

It just might come to that.

The recent departures of Mitch Daniels and Mike Huckabee from the 2012 GOP field, combined with a flurry of recent moves by Palin—staff changes, the purchase of a home in Arizona, the Iowa premiere of a new feature-length film extolling the former Alaska governor—is rekindling speculation that she sees an opportunity in 2012 and may be thinking more seriously than ever about a presidential run.

John Ziegler, a conservative filmmaker and activist close to Palin, said he believes the ex-governor is closer to a run now than she’s ever been.

“I have felt for a while that she is probably running and its seems more clear than ever that she is,” said Ziegler, who interviewed Palin for a different film, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.”

“The movie is a great idea. I suggested a similar concept to her a long time ago and I am sure it will be fantastic viewing. I am concerned though that it seems there are at least some people involved in it who are not actual Palin loyalists and that its hoped for impact may be based on an overly optimistic view of the nature of the electorate,” he said.

Palin herself has stoked the fires with her comments, including telling Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren that she indeed has “the fire in the belly” to make a bid for the White House.

The launch of a new SarahPAC website last month also fanned speculation since it provided a vehicle to collect email addresses of her supporters and start interacting more directly with her potential donors and activists. Palin recently used the growing list to send a fund-raising mailer to supporters in South Carolina, a common strategy that those close to Palin say will continue to bring money into her organization.

“No ands, ifs or buts about it, Sarah Palin is going to run for president,” asserted Alaska pollster Ivan Moore in a column last week, pointing to a convergence of conditions that make the timing for a Palin campaign perfect.

The former governor’s aides declined to speak to POLITICO about her thinking, but have acknowledged in discussions about the 2012 race that there is an opening for her and have said repeatedly that no other candidate’s decision would affect her own. Palin’s camp has ignored outside pressure to commit to running and is privately eying July as the last month they could enter the race, if the former governor wanted to throw the switch.

For months, Palin’s camp has been talking about hiring additional staff and planning high profile travel — though much of it has yet to come to pass. Still, her staff is keenly aware of filing deadlines and is preparing as if she is running, even if they don’t know the final decision. Palin’s team also closely monitors the actions of her potential 2012 GOP rivals, particularly what the other perspective candidates say about her.

The purchase of a home in Scottsdale, Arizona — confirmed by a source close to Palin — may have solved one of the major logistical impediments to a campaign by providing her with a perch near a major airline hub in the lower 48 states that would allow her to travel more freely. Her staff has repeatedly declined to answer questions that Palin would run a potential campaign from Scottsdale—and there is scant evidence that discussions have yet gone that far.

The former governor’s team expects to have one advantage that other prospective 2012 candidates do not—due to her stature in the party, they don’t believe they have to operate by the same rules as the other campaigns. Those who would make up team Palin are counting on a flood of small dollar donations if she enters the race and believe her strong core of support and near-universal name identification keeps them from having to take part in the early stages of the long slog toward Iowa.


Ed Morrissey, an influential conservative blogger for the site Hot Air agreed that traditional campaign rules don’t apply to the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee.

“Palin’s got a longer window to make this decision than most of the other candidates do,” said Morrissey. “She has almost universal name organization and I’d imagine her organization would come together rather quickly…She could probably wait until at least Labor Day.”

A Gallup poll conducted after Huckabee’s exit from the presidential race confirmed that Palin remains well-entrenched near the top of the field, taking 18 percent and finishing second only to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Palin has been quiet since her trip to Washington a few weeks ago to rub elbows with the city’s elite ahead of the White House Corespondents Dinner and speech to an anti-abortion rights group in Bethesda.

In the absence of any hard evidence that Palin is building the infrastructure for a presidential bid—and a number of incentives to stay out of the race—many Republicans continue to doubt she’ll plunge in.

“She has a fulfilling array of activities with a solid income, adoring fans at her speaking engagements, and time for a wonderful family life,” said Fred Malek, a major Republican fundraiser in Washington and one of the former governor’s few friends among the Republican establishment. “I haven’t talked to her in four months but seriously doubt it’d be in her interests to change that.”


Republican strategist Mary Matalin pointed out that Palin is one of the few politicians who can “pull rabbits out of hats,” but expressed little expectation that she will.

Matalin suggested Huckabee’s decision to stay away from the campaign could prove to be key to Palin’s decision-making process.

“Huckabee’s departure would be a greater factor in her strategic thinking than the departing (that is, never entering) candidates who were not playing to her strength,” Matalin said of Palin.

Jonathan Martin contributed reporting to this story.



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1hotlady; 2012palin; 2smart4hillary; election; johnziegler; martin4romney; mediamalpractice; notrunning; palin; palin2012; politico4romney; pollutico; pr4therinoromney; president; rinobots4mitt; rinoromney; rinoromneypr; romneybotstench; romneybs; romneydirtytricks; romneyflack; romneyprrep; rumors4romney; sarahpalin; stenchofromney
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To: reformjoy

Of Course, all Presidential Candidates should
supply proof of being born in the USA TO 2 US CITIZEN PARENTS.......

fixed it for ya!


21 posted on 05/27/2011 5:22:37 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (Palin/West 2012)
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To: reformjoy

When Palin is President pray that the citizens aren’t stupid enough to elect a “Progressive” congress.


22 posted on 05/27/2011 5:23:33 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Diogenesis; hinckley buzzard
I liked this post from your linked-and-cited thread; it's succinct and somehow captures all the .....aroma .... wafting over from Willard's info operations aka Jonny Martin writing at Politico. Who, I discover on reading the thread, had a lot to do with my much-admired man, Fred Thompson, getting "clubbed" in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Little things like, spreading "reports" that Fred was going to "drop out after Iowa" when in fact he wasn't planning anything of the sort. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

To: JRochelle

No surprise here. Politico is just a liberal whorehouse, a bunch of WaPo sluts who decided to kick their pimp and freelance.

6 posted on Friday, October 30, 2009 6:04:57 PM by hinckley buzzard (Truth--The liberal's Kryptonite)

23 posted on 05/27/2011 5:26:36 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus (Concealed carry is a pro-life position.)
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To: reformjoy
RE :"Palin herself has stoked the fires with her comments, including telling Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren that she indeed has “the fire in the belly” to make a bid for the White House"

LOL, she is just playing the MSM and is not running in 2012. This is funny stuff though, she has them going now.

24 posted on 05/27/2011 5:35:56 PM PDT by sickoflibs (If you pay zero Federal income taxes, don't say you are paying your 'fair share')
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To: reformjoy
[Article] “Palin’s got a longer window to make this decision than most of the other candidates do,” said Morrissey. “She has almost universal name organization and I’d imagine her organization would come together rather quickly…She could probably wait until at least Labor Day.”

Translation:

"Sarah, please stay out until Labor Day, give us a chance to sift your trash some more and dig through your phone records and see if we can find some dirt...! .... and tell your contributors some more that you aren't really running, you're just collecting money to blow on clothes for your overpaid speaking engagements!"

25 posted on 05/27/2011 5:39:10 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus (Concealed carry is a pro-life position.)
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To: truthguy
Perry/Palin Best chance to knock off Obama. You heard it here first.

I'll try real hard to remember your momentous declaration. Really, I will.

Remind me later?

26 posted on 05/27/2011 5:42:29 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Forty-Niner

Media notwithstanding, my point is that not everyone who dislikes a candidate - or potential candidate - does so out of fear.


27 posted on 05/27/2011 5:44:26 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: sickoflibs
LOL, she is just playing the MSM and is not running in 2012. This is funny stuff though, she has them going now.

If you're so convinced that she's not running, why are you hopping all over FR and posting that on every Palin thread?

Sounds like you're whistling past the graveyard with a head full of wishful thinking to me.

Tell ya what, friend. If and when she does announce, you're gonna have a whole lotta crow to eat. Are you going to own up to how wrong you were, if that happens?

28 posted on 05/27/2011 5:50:42 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Forty-Niner

Thanks!! : )


29 posted on 05/27/2011 5:53:38 PM PDT by reformjoy
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To: All
Much thanks to HOT GUY John Ziegler for his movie, Media Malpractice for highlighting the media's intense fear of Palin!

Why does Katie Couric have to spend hours and hours with a coach to try to lob a slippery question to Palin?

Because... it's war, baby.

War.

30 posted on 05/27/2011 5:57:43 PM PDT by reformjoy
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To: reformjoy

I’m just glad to see Freerepublic come to their senses and have serious discussion and debate about true conservative candidates again like Palin, Bachmann, and Cain. A few weeks ago when Trump was all the rage here, I was seriously thinking about finding another forum to have political discussions after FR seemed to have lost its sanity.


31 posted on 05/27/2011 6:13:55 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: Windflier
RE :” If you're so convinced that she's not running, why are you hopping all over FR and posting that on every Palin thread? Sounds like you're whistling past the graveyard with a head full of wishful thinking to me. Tell ya what, friend. If and when she does announce, you're gonna have a whole lotta crow to eat. Are you going to own up to how wrong you were, if that happens?

If and when?? That doesnt found very confident.

I saw Chris Matthews today do his daily “What would a Palin run look like?” segment. Looks like she is playing him pretty well. He even throws in a compliment every-so often.

I need a break from some of more depressing issues and I am curious what those on these Palin 2012 threads really think about it. I have never discouraged a hypothetical Palin run, that would be silly and counter-productive.

32 posted on 05/27/2011 6:40:04 PM PDT by sickoflibs (If you pay zero Federal income taxes, don't say you are paying your 'fair share')
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To: humblegunner
Media notwithstanding, my point is that not everyone who dislikes a candidate - or potential candidate - does so out of fear.

When something that you don't like becomes a threat, then you fear it.

33 posted on 05/27/2011 6:40:08 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: Windflier
RE :”Tell ya what, friend. If and when she does announce, you're gonna have a whole lotta crow to eat. Are you going to own up to how wrong you were, if that happens?

I like you, you called me friend, you cant be a bad guy :)

Yep, you would be right about that. Think of all the satisfaction you will or would have if that happened, especially if you insist she is running now.

Back mid 2010 she started convincing me she wouldn't run, but then a few weeks ago I started wondering if I was going to be wrong,then I saw the Greta ‘Fire in my belly’ interview and she convinced me she is not running, there are other clear signs too, but no point in my posting them here.

Maybe she will read our exchange and change her mind just to see me eat crow and so you can say “You were wrong” to me. LOL

34 posted on 05/27/2011 7:01:20 PM PDT by sickoflibs (If you pay zero Federal income taxes, don't say you are paying your 'fair share')
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To: Windflier
If you're so convinced that she's not running, why are you hopping all over FR and posting that on every Palin thread?

But I have it on the best authority that Sarah's not running. The Romneybots keep telling us that she's not serious, just in this for the money. The White House shills assure us that she's not running. The mainstream media continue to dismiss her. Can all those enemies of America as a free country be wrong?

35 posted on 05/27/2011 7:04:40 PM PDT by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: reformjoy

36 posted on 05/27/2011 7:30:22 PM PDT by flat
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To: sickoflibs
Think of all the satisfaction you will or would have if that happened, especially if you insist she is running now.

You still didn't say if you'll dig in and scarf down on that crow pie, if Sarah runs.

37 posted on 05/27/2011 7:36:38 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: sickoflibs
If and when?? That doesnt found very confident.

I only phrased it that way to entertain your frame of mind about the possibility of Sarah running. I've been convinced for a long time that she's going to run.

38 posted on 05/27/2011 7:39:38 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Pollster1
But I have it on the best authority that Sarah's not running.

Don't we all? I think it's interesting that those who insist in the strongest terms (and the most frequently) that she's not running, also just happen to be some of her most strident critics.

Coinkydink? I don't think so!

39 posted on 05/27/2011 7:42:34 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier
RE :”You still didn't say if you'll dig in and scarf down on that crow pie, if Sarah runs.

I have done it before, but I usually dont have to. I know when Trump announced that he was really not running after all, and after I went around on all the ‘Trump will save us” threads and posted ‘he's not really running’ for weeks, I really loved posting ‘I TOLD YOU SO!’ on it. That was fun:)

No, not saying Palin is the same as Trump, except neither were running.

40 posted on 05/27/2011 7:45:28 PM PDT by sickoflibs (If you pay zero Federal income taxes, don't say you are paying your 'fair share')
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