SarahPAC's direct mail campaign (Updated)

If she gets in the race, it would shake up the field
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SarahPAC, Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee, is sending direct mail fund-raising solicitations nation wide. Rachel Weiner states the obvious at Chris Cillizza's Washington Post blog, "The Fix". It's a move that which will no doubt ignite the punditocracy, which has been all about how she's not going to run in 2012, to reconsider the efficacy of that narrative:

The copy of the letter sent to The Fix came from South Carolina, and SarahPAC Treasurer Tim Crawford said that about 400,000 solicitations were sent out nationwide. While the mailing, which aims to raise contributions for Sarah PAC, says nothing specific about Palin’s own political future the decision to send it will surely raise eyebrows.

“Taking back control of the House last year was only the first step,” Palin writes in the mailer. “Now you and I must fix our eyes on 2012. Our goal is to take back the White House and the Senate.”

Ms. Weiner makes the obviouss observation that if Sarah Palin jumps into the race, it would shake up the field in the aftermath of Mike Huckabee’s announcement Saturday that he will sit out the 2012 contest. No small number of values voters, a critical demographic for 2012 Republican primaries, are now up for grabs. Gov. Palin is still well-regarded by these social conservatives.

SarahPAC is a leadership PAC, an an organization formed to support other candidates. Although a leadership PAC cannot under FEC rules spend fund to directly support the campaign of its sponsor, it may fund travel, administrative expenses, consultants, polling, and other non-campaign expenses. Sarah PAC had $1.3 million on hand at year's end after raising $3.2 million during the election cycle. The SarahPAC website got a major overhaul last month which allows Palin supporters to more easily interact with the governor.

Update: A PDF copy of the letter is here.

- JP