The key for Palin is Iowa and New Hampshire in January 2012 (about two and a half years from now). She's on track for fundraising - and I've alreadly laid out the kind of wonkish travel agenda she should pursue - but if she can't win either of those momentum-building states, she'll be done (see, "Can Palin Win the 2012 GOP Nomination?").Sarah Palin will not go away.
And for many, that’s a good thing.
Even though the former vice presidential candidate has resigned as governor of Alaska, none of us fully believes she’s walking away from politics.
That would be a stupid move altogether.
Palin might not have been able to tell a probing journalist all the countries in NATO, but she does know the magnitude of her political capital.
At the time of the Republican National Convention last fall, when she undoubtedly shined in the spotlight, Palin boasted a tremendous favorability rating — six in 10 Americans, regardless of party, had a favorable opinion of her.
She has slipped recently, specifically since her surprise resignation as governor with more than a year left in her first term. Most notably, according to The Washington Post, her support within the GOP “has deteriorated from its pre-election levels, including a sharp drop in the number holding ‘strongly favorable’ impressions of her.”And yet, she still ranks right up there with other potential presidential candidates in 2012. That’s a long way off, especially since one doesn’t have a built-in, democratically elected soapbox from which to project.
Four years from now, Palin could be a leading candidate for the Republican nomination.
The Times Record piece was written before the big news broke today on the Palins' alleged "divorce." The editorial sure holds up well in light of all this controversy. Sarah Palin was really savvy in preempting the mainstream press in not just scuttling the rumors, but in keeping her celebrity kindling in the media glare.
See the Christian Science Monitor, "Sarah Palin STILL not getting a divorce (in case you don’t believe it)."
Related: Saber Point, "Must Read: The Destruction of Sarah Palin."
Palin is a true outsider in Washington and is not a pet of the press. The elites, both left and right, hate her because she is a true populist. She is part of the common rabble and that is what makes her what we truly need. The Ivy League presidents, both parties, have mostly been flops and it's time for a president to rise out of the true Americans who live in the real world, not the ivory towers of Ivy League schools.
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