RCP: Sarah Palin to Visit S.C. as Part of Early-State Trifecta

"To me, an American is an American, no matter what their primary election dates are."
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RCP national political reporter Scott Conroy says RealClearPolitics has learned that Gov. Sarah Palin will visit South Carolina later this month as part of her One Nation bus tour. The Palmetto State presidential primary in January is traditionally the first to be held among the southern states and the third major GOP primary in the nation:

RCP has learned that she is purposefully bypassing meetings with local party leadership as she works to cultivate her image as an "anti-politician," in anticipation of a wildly unconventional presidential run.

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During her political rise in Alaska, Palin had several high-profile dust-ups with members of the state GOP establishment, which left an indelible mark on her psyche and have made her resistant to what she views as the trappings of party machinery.

Palin won accolades in Alaska when she blew the whistle on a state party chairman who had committed ethics violations, and she subsequently took on incumbent GOP Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski during her successful 2006 gubernatorial primary run, in which she was opposed by most members of the party apparatus.

Palin has shown a deep desire to avoid direct participation in the traditional machinations of Republican Party politics ever since, and she is showing no signs of changing a strategy that has repeatedly paid dividends.

"I figure that politicians in office are really busy and they don't need to be bothered by someone just knocking on their door," Palin told RCP.

Following her current "One Nation" tour of the Northeast, Palin will next journey to the Midwest, where Iowa will be front and center.

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During the third leg of her tour, Palin will travel to South Carolina and may also appear at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where several other current and potential GOP White House hopefuls are scheduled to speak.

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Gov. Palin will tour Ellis Island this morning before her bus tour continues on to New England. It is widely anticipated that she will stop in Boston, where colonists dumped the British's tea into the Boston Harbror in 1773, on her way to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire later this week.

- JP