The Fix: Sarah Palin's one of the 'big six' 2012 endorsements

She "can deliver a sizeable army of supporters that any candidate would be lucky to have."
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The Washington Post's Aaron Blake, writing in "The Fix" column, observes that the 2012 GOP presidential contest has reached has reached the stage where where the candidates are beginning to battle for big name endorsements. Blake lists six key endorsements "that could change the 2012 race," and Gov. Palin's is among them:

"...the former Alaska governor still can deliver a sizeable army of supporters that any candidate would be lucky to have. She delivers the tea party crowd as much as DeMint and the social conservative crowd as much as Huckabee. More than anything, though, she delivers the kind of outsider credentials that every candidate in the race wants."

"Who’s favored? Palin’s history of backing long-shot outsiders suggests she would be open to backing someone like Herman (“Herb”) Cain. That endorsement makes all kinds of sense for Palin. At the same time, she has said nice things about Gingrich and was perhaps the key Perry backer in his 2010 primary against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)."

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Since Blake is purely speculating anyway, it should be pointed out that Perry's gubernatorial primary was a lifetime ago, at least when measured in political time, and both he and Cain have stumbled in recent weeks. In fact, whether she will even make a presidential endorsement before the primaries have determined the nominee is open to debate. New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman claims to have been told by an anonymous "Palin advisor" that the former Alaska governor will make an endorsement, but as we have seen, unnamed media sources haven't been very reliable about what Sarah Palin will or will not do. I'm taking the entire NY Mag article with a big grain of salt.

- JP