Asked if he would like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to lead the GOP in 2012, Shadegg replied:
"I think Sarah Palin has to step forward on the national scene much more than she has so far and we have to look at this issue."Which is, interestingly, just the opposite from the advice many Republican political consultants have volunteered for the GOP's 2008 vice presidential candidate - to work hard to build a successful record in Alaska while keeping a lower profile nationally. and that is exactly what the governor has been doing, aside from her 36 hours in Indiana last month, heralded by many in the media as her "national return."
Everyone's a political advisor, it seems. But we're still more than three years out from 2012, and a lot can happen in what in such a long stretch. Gov. Palin has been steering a prudent course.
She passed up another shot in the national limelight to remain at home during the recent severe flooding in her state, a situation in which most Alaskans will likely perceive she acted effectively. A number of the politically-motivated ethics complaints that had been filed against her have been thrown out, and even some of her critics have admitted that the charges lacked merit.
The governor seems to have made a good case for Alaska's energy, environmental and wildlife policies to Interior Secretary Salazar to the extent that the Obama administration has made several key decisions recently in her state's favor. Oil futures have been on an upswing recently and were just a little over $10 shy of the $70 per barrel price which will keep Alaska from having to dig very deeply into the money the state has tucked away.
Gov. Palin just signed a book deal for an undisclosed amount of money, but it should be sufficient enough to keep her from having to worry about her family's finances. The book will hit the shelves just in time for 2010, and she will have a couple of weeks to make a book tour which should generate a considerable amount of positive publicity.
She has SarahPAC, her political action committee, which doesn't have to disclose how much in donations it has taken in for quite some time. But from the amount of enthusiastic support the governor has at the grassroots level, I'm expecting some impressive numbers when they are finally announced. She can spread this around to the sort of candidates she wants to identify with, which will win her considerable support with the party if a sufficient number of those candidates get elected. The impact Sarah Palin had on Sen. Saxby Chambliss' reelection bid (some pundits say she made an additional ten-point difference in Saxby's favor) has not been forgotten, and she will be asked by many GOP incumbents in tight political contests to campaign for them in 2010.
Gov. Palin is still in demand to appear at all sorts of events, both political and charitable. She can pick and choose from the hundreds of invitations to show up at those events which will greatly benefit both her and the sponsoring organizations.
Meanwhile, she still has plenty of time to fine tune her image, her speaking style and her familiarity with national issues. She's still very popular with most conservatives and many libertarians, and she is building a record in Alaska which should impress many independents that she is hardly the extreme right-wing idealogue portrayed by The Left in their efforts to define her.
The 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate is very well positioned for a second term in the 2010 elections, and she's in great shape for 2012. As other potential presidential hopefuls gather endorsements and gain the attention of the media, we will see an increasing number of attacks on them from The Left, which means that Sarah Palin will not be the only political star drawing their fire. After what the governor and her family have been through since late last August, that has to be considered a very big positive.
- JP
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