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Posted on 04/27/2011 10:29:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Reporting from Des Moines—
It's presidential campaign season in the heartland, and on any given day, some semi-famous Republican is here to ask Iowans for a shot at the Big Job. Former governors and other onetime pols trip over each other as they vie for love and money. As expected, there is even an evangelical Christian mother of five lighting up crowds of religious conservatives. But her name is not Sarah Palin.
So where is the former Alaska governor?
Lots of places: India, Israel, New York, California, Oklahoma and, most recently, Wisconsin. But not Iowa, the state that could make or break her White House aspirations.
With no formal political operation here, Palin's fate right now is in the hands of a California lawyer and "tea party" supporter who has anointed himself her unofficial Iowa state director, and a retired potato chip salesman who is trying to coalesce support for her online. They know each other, but neither is officially connected to SarahPAC, her national political operation.
"If Gov. Palin runs, it doesn't hurt to have relationships and lists," said Peter Singleton, the 56-year-old Menlo Park lawyer who has been crisscrossing Iowa for months, meeting with Republicans in order to create a database for a 2012 Palin campaign, if there is one. "We're just a network of friends at this point."
The former chip salesman, Doug Adams, also 56, started the blog Iowans4Palin in February. "When she came on the scene, she was speaking directly to me," said Adams, a resident of Storm Lake, a small town about halfway between Fort Dodge and Sioux City.
Palin has said repeatedly that she has not made up her mind about 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Governor Palin is not playing by the old rules...
I don’t think she gets in until late in the game.
If she’s not running, she never needs to step foot in Iowa
Those who orbit Planet Sarah will swear that her lack of presence is a sure sign that she is running. :)
Good for her. I’m rapidly getting tired of listening to campaigning over a year out from the elections.
From a strategy point of view, both Palin and Huckabee should be barnstorming the heck out of Iowa right now and basically not worry about New Hampshire. Simply put forth the theory/opinion to the media that NH is meaningless because it basically is a home for Mitt Romney, don’t put any money there or Nevada and dump your money into Iowa and South Carolina.
If either were pretty sure they were running, seems they should already be laying down a better framework.
It is amazing but, if the site I am looking at is accurate, the Iowa Caucus COULD be held January 16th...that is just 9 months away...that really isn’t a lot of time.
Palin lays low for months and then walks into Madison, hitting a home run that keeps everyone buzzing for days. She seems to know how to punch hard and then go invisible.
Remember: you read it here first!
Let’s see....in 2008 these were the GOP candidates and how they did....how much did this play in the election itself?
2008 - Mike Huckabee (34%), Mitt Romney (25%), Fred Thompson (13%), John McCain (13%), Ron Paul (10%), Rudy Giuliani (4%), and Duncan Hunter (1%)
Seems to me that the top 3 didn’t get the nomination...so...just how important is this Iowa vote in the overall scheme of things?....and Fred thompson I don’t believe had declared....I don’t remember...seems he declared after the Iowa vote....
The Ames Straw Poll in August is the first big election event.
honestly, I don’t think she intends to run.
She’s not running!
Let Sarah be Sarah; she won’t be pushed...she is a hunter; hunting is all about strategy...you don’t just go out and shoot a moose or any other game; there is a lot to know. Sarah loves sport; it also is all about strategy. She knows what she wants and how to get it. We don’t know what her strategy is; nor what she wants to accomplish. What ever it is she wants to accomplish; she will not fail.
I’m confused. Is she running for some office? Why is this even relevant?
Being an Iowa Republican activist, my focus at this time is on the Straw Poll—not the caucus. There is also great significance in the Straw Poll. Some will drop out after the Straw Poll.
“Ms. Palin is not going to run for the office of President of the US in 2012”
Yes she is and (as I’ve posted before) it’s because if she stays out she’ll lose most of her devoted followers and most of the influence she’d otherwise have over the 2012 election.
It doesn’t matter if she loses the primary. She needs to be in the fight for the good of the conservative cause and defeating Obama.
Those who orbit Planet Sarah at least reads what she says.......the rest like you have no clue!
She has repeatedly lambasted politicians for running “forever campaigns”...she just blasted Obama yesterday for already running 19 months until the election when he is the President and got more important things to do like lead the country, She has repeatedly said that she won’t hire Republican politicos and inside the beltway aides...(she has received much criticism from MSM and pundits because she hadn’t snatched up key staff people in Iowa)
There has been other things she said as well as to what kind of campaign she would run, so just because she isn’t doing things to your liking or the MSM liking doesn’t mean that she isn’t running.....sheesh!
She said if she did run it would be unconventional. I never got why Iowa was so improtant comapred to any other state. And we all are sick and tired of years’ long campaigns. A huge waste of money and time. She could come in next year at this time and announce, that would be just fine with me. Time to upset the election machine and declare that politics as usual is no more.
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