The Case for Why Sarah Palin Won’t Run for President

Image by Image Editor via FlickrBy: Gabriel Sherman
Sept. 1, 2010

When news surfaced yesterday that Sarah Palin would be venturing to Iowa to headline the GOP's annual Reagan Day Dinner on September 17, she sparked a new round of media speculation about her 2012 presidential ambitions. Ever since Palin resigned from the Governor’s Mansion last summer, the will-she-or-won’t-she guessing game that occupies the minds of Republicans (and many optimistic Democrats) has turbocharged her appeal as a national figure.


But the trip to Iowa, like almost anything to do with Palin, can be read in a number of ways. On the one hand, it might be an earnest attempt to begin to build a campaign. But it’s also, certainly, an effective move for a media figure like Palin — Matt Drudge played it huge. For Palin, running for president is partly a kind of profit center. "It’s an industry to write about Sarah and put her on TV,” John Coale, the prominent Democratic lawyer and husband of Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, told me. “We’re two years into this and people are still fascinated by her. But, if she doesn’t run, does she maintain this interest?”

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VIDEO: Young Mattie Fein (vs. Jane Harman)

Better late than never. This is pretty clever, no matter on what side of the aisle you sit: "Ahmadinejad was my boyfriend!"

Primary losses blunt Palin's 'mama grizzly' claws (AP)

Sarah Palin, image by smiteme via Flickr

By PHILIP ELLIOTT (AP) 

1 day ago

WASHINGTON — It's been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate "cubs" endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary election losses.

The Republicans' 2008 vice presidential nominee promised a pack of "mama grizzly" candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November's elections. But office-seekers she supported in Kansas, Wyoming and Washington state lost their primaries despite her high-profile endorsements. And Karen Handel lost her runoff contest for Georgia governor a day after sharing an Atlanta stage with Palin.

Now, Alaska's Senate primary on Tuesday is shaping up as an embarrassing defeat in her own backyard. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to dispatch the challenger Palin has endorsed in the Republican contest.

Palin says it isn't about picking winners.

"Regardless of whether the many candidates I've had the honor of endorsing win or lose this time around, I support them because they boldly shake things up in their primary races," she said in a Facebook message.

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The most powerful Republican in politics (Politico)

Haley Barbour, image via Wikipedia

By JIM VANDEHEI & ANDY BARR & KENNETH P. VOGEL 

8/20/10 

 

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is the most powerful Republican in American politics — at least for the next three months.

Barbour, who runs the Republican Governors Association, has more money to spend on the 2010 elections — $40 million — than any other GOP leader around. And in private, numerous Republicans describe Barbour as the de facto chairman of the party. (See "End Run: Romney's Crafty Financing")

It’s not just because he controls the RGA kitty but, rather, because he has close relationships with everyone who matters in national GOP politics — operatives like Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and other top Republicans running or raising cash for a network of outside political groups. Together, these groups are essential to Republican hopes of regaining power because Democrats are cleaning their clocks through more traditional fundraising efforts. 

The political class, in particular, is consumed with Barbour’s behind-the-scenes endeavors — this week, with the $1 million he got from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (See "Fox Parent's Donation Causes Stir")

Yet the reality is that Barbour has been uniquely adept at leveraging concerns about President Barack Obama into huge contributions from many others. Bob Perry, the Texas businessman who funded the Swift boat attacks in the 2004 campaigns, has given more than twice as much as News Corp.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41236.html#ixzz0xCf3BuJa

Mama Grizzlies Video: Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me