Hawkins: Sure looks like Palin is running for president

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John Hawkins says that Sarah Palin appears to be laying the foundation for a White House run. The Right Wing News editor lists her resignation as governor, book tour,  Facebook posts and decision to accept a position as FOX News as reasons for his conclusion. And he offers the following additional evidence:

* She burnished her outsider credentials and appealed to anti-establishment conservatives by supporting Doug Hoffman in NY-23.

* She's speaking at multiple tea parties to help cement that part of the base in her camp.

* Her PAC has been raising money that she'll dole out to candidates during the 2010 primary season.

* She endorsed Rand Paul in the Kentucky Republican primary. Why? Well, what better way to appeal to Ron Paul's fans without getting entangled with the man himself?

* Palin's endorsement of John McCain came early, before JD Hayworth got in the race, and may very well have been in return for Johnny Mac's endorsement in 2012. Like him or not, McCain has a lot of influence with moderates in the party and having him support her instead Romney or Pawlenty would be very helpful.

Hawkins admits that all of the above does not necessarily mean that Sarah Palin is running for president -- at least not in 2012. She still needs time to work on elevating her approval ratings, build her resume and continue to show that she understands the issues of the day and how to deal with them using both her new and old media megaphones. And he points our -- as have we -- that the governor can always wait another four or eight years to throw her cap into the ring.

Hawkins concludes by saying that more so than Romney, Huckabee Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin is doing all the things that you'd expect from a 2012 contender at this stage of the game. On this last point, we disagree with the RWN editor. One thing Sarah Palin hasn't done that Romney and Huckabee have is to start organizing at the state level. Granted, that Romney and Huckabee have do so is by virtue of their GOP primary efforts in 2008. Romney, especially, has left is state organizations in standby mode just waiting for the right moment to reactivate them.

Also those Romney, Huckabee and Pawlenty have each made several pilgrimage to the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Sarah Palin had only one brief book tour stop in Iowa, and while there she didn't schedule time for interviews with the local media. That's one reason why we believe that Sarah Palin is in it for the long run. While we don't doubt that she would jump into the race if some unusually advantageous opportunity presented itself, we think she's looking ahead to 2016 or 2020. Time will tell.

- JP