Palin’s Latest: Signs of a 2012 Bid…Or Love of the Limelight?

Mark Eliason/Zuma

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


OMG. Sarah Palin is running for president. Well, it’s not official. And unconfirmed. And, perhaps, maybe she isn’t. But The New York Times has a front-pager today with a headline proclaiming “Signs Grow That Palin May Run.” The signs? She’s bolstering her skimpy staff, beefing up her schedule of public appearances, and possibly moving to Arizona. (That’s bad news if John McCain wants to be her running-mate.) Politico reports “speculation” of a Palin 2012 race is on the rise. And there’s a new pro-Palin film being released in key primary states. Recently, she told her pal Greta Van Susteren that—you betcha—she has “the fire in the belly” for a White House bid.

It may well be that the former half-term governor/unsuccessful vice-presidential candidate is indeed heading toward a dive into presidential waters. But there’s another possible explanation: as 2012 approaches, a presidential tease requires more, uh, leg.

At the start of this year, Palin’s will-she-or-won’t-she act was a large part of the 2012 story. But the months went by—and, not coincidentally, her standing in various polls slipped—and developments nudged her to the side, as other candidates either entered the race or retreated. For a while, Donald Trump sucked up loads of oxygen, as he head-faked a run that would draw upon right-wing anger and resentment (Palin’s fuel). In recent weeks, as candidates Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, and Mike Huckabee kept their hats on their heads, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has all but declared, indicating that the Sarah Palin role in the 2012 miniseries might be played by a social conservative woman other than Sarah Palin.

The bottom-line: Palin was starting to look more like an irrelevant sideshow than the main attraction. And that’s not good for Palin and Palin, Inc.

If Palin decides not to run, she will not remain a star of the show. She will indeed possess influence, for presumably a Palin endorsement (or anti-endorsement) will have an impact within the ranks of GOP primary voters. But as long as she is a possible candidate, she can command a tremendous amount of attention. Yet at this stage, being a credible possible candidate actually requires her to take certain steps.

So all these actions fanning “speculation” that she might be preparing to stride into the race can also be viewed as actions necessary to maintain her possible-candidate status—which is worth preserving, even if Palin already knows she’s not going to make good on the tease. Which means the Palin guessing game is still just that: a guessing game.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate