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

RINO alert? No, PDS Alert!

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We received this e-mail alert today from the Chairman of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, Randy Highsmith:

Paul Streitz, co-founder of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, who has not held a leadership position with the Committee for almost a year now, sent out an email last night voicing his disapproval of Governor Palin’s recent decisions. If you have received his email, you were probably under the impression that he was speaking for us, for he phrased it in such a way as to give that impression. However, he was not—in any way, shape, or form—speaking for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. He was speaking for himself. We do not, as a Committee, support his perspective or condone his approach.

Governor Palin has always acted on principle, which is one of many reasons we have supported her so vehemently and will continue to do so.

Randy Highsmith
Chairman

Adrienne Ross, the Committee's Media Director and New York State Organizer, posted a more detailed refutation of Strietz, which can be perused on her blog Motivation Truth and several other websites to which she is a contributor. She says, in part:

Governor Palin, a RINO? Are you kidding me?

I have very little tolerance for backstabbers.

[...]

Paul Streitz should note that true character is revealed, not necessarily when we agree with someone, but in areas where we may disagree. The way we deal with those situations says a lot about who we really were all along. When disagreements lead to backstabbing, undermining, and trying to rally others to buy into it, I have to wonder if the knife was waiting in the back pocket all along.

These are very strange times. From the beginning, Sarah Palin was loathed and attacked by the Alaskan corruptocrats in her own party. When she moved onto the national stage, liberals and their captive media joined in on the attacks. Then, the elitist chattering class -- in the form of Peggy Noonan, David Frum, et al -- piled on.

The next bunch to turn against Palin were a faction of libertarians who are soft on the war on terror, and certain isolationist paleoconservatves quickly followed.

Now we're seeing the extreme far right absolutists going after Governor Palin and ridiculously attempting to brand her a "RINO."

Curiously, the radical Left considers Sarah Palin to be a "far right winger," while at the same time the far right wing insists that she is a "liberal RINO." How can they both be right? They can't. They can, however, both be wrong, and so they are.

One of the things we love about The Arctic Fox is that she attracts all the right enemies and tends to make their heads explode. Palin Derangement Syndrome -- It's not just for Leftists anymore.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Committee Nov/Dec Newsletter

The November/December edition of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee newsletter is out, and it's on our recommended reading list. The committee is raising funds for making its presence felt at 2010 CPAC Conference. Gov. Palin wasn't able to attend winter CPAC this year or last, but there's hope that she will be there in February, since she is no longer chained to the governor's office in Alaska and is now able to more freely travel. It's important for any organization which supports Sarah Palin to make a good showing at CPAC, in our opinion.

Chairman Randy Highsmith relates his experience at a recent event on the Going Rogue Book Tour, where he not only got to meet Gov. Palin, but also got to chat with her dad Chuck Heath for a few minutes.

Also, there's a interesting profile of organizer Kristina Lazzaro in the newsletter. Randy and Kristina are just two of the Committee's members who have blogs which are part of the Bloggers for Sarah Palin blogroll.

To subscribe to the newsletter, visit the committee's website and fill in the blanks on the blue box just below the menu on the left. To read previous issues, just click on "Newsletter" on the main menu.

While Texas for Sarah Palin and its editor are not members of any Draft Sarah group, we value our friendships with those who are so involved, and we will continue to support all persons and organizations who support her. The Sarah Palin support community has experienced robust growth over the past year, and it should become larger, stronger and more effective in 2010.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Committee gets some local ink

David Kelly, who founded the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee is featured in an article in the Colorado Springs Independent. Kelly, who works out of a home office in Briargate area of the city located at the foot of Pike's Peak, devotes up to 20 hours a week of his free time away from a full-time job as a library district worker taking care of business for the grassroots PAC, the only one of its kind registered with the Federal Election Commission:

Kelly formally announced the PAC in January and was soon interviewed by Washington, D.C., political columnists. His Web site, 2012draftsarahcommittee.com, rocked with 10,000 hits a day. Now, it has slowed to about 200 to 1,000 hits daily.

But things may get busy for the homegrown PAC again, with the former governor's book about to be released and increased speculation that she will make a run for the White House in 2012, which is the Committee's goal:

"The day she announces," he says, "our job is done."

A couple of Bloggers for Sarah Palin blogroll members are also mentioned in the Independent's article:

Randy Highsmith, the committee's chairman, saw a story on the Web about the committee and volunteered to organize from Florida. He raves about Palin in an e-mail: "Palin excited me and many other conservatives due to her proven and consistent conservative stances." He notes she's pro-life, pro-business and favors oil drilling in Alaska wilderness.

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Kelly says Palin is "careful" not to communicate with his PAC, although the group's New York-based spokeswoman [Adrienne Ross] has met her.

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Highsmith says the committee has hundreds of volunteers and thousands of newsletter subscribers.

Even this mostly positive article is not without its media bias. Pam Zubeck, who wrote the piece, couldn't resist the urge to gratuitously interject two DNC talking points, mentioning "Palin's... wardrobe expenditures" and "some moderate-courting Republicans" who "denounce Palin for espousing extreme conservative views." In truth, the idea to purchase a new wardrobe for the former governor and her family was made by McCain campaign staffers, and Sarah Palin had nothing to do with it. Also her views on the issues are hardly "extreme" -- but are in line instead with the conservative mainstream in what poll after poll says is a center-right majority.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Committee September Newsletter

The September edition of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee's newsletter is out. If you're not receiving the newsletter, and you would like for it to be sent to your e-mail address, the procedure is painless. Just go here and scroll down to the blue box in the left-hand sidebar. Fill in the three blanks, click on "Go" and that's all there is to it.

- JP

Who's the Country Club Republican, Dr. Paul?

In an interview with Politico, Ron Paul, the libertarian Texas congressman who operates under the cover of the Republican Party, has tagged Sarah Palin's supporters with the dreaded "double-C" words:

As for soon-to-be departing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Paul dismisses her supporters as "more establishment, conventional Country-Club type of Republicans."

"I wonder whether she's energizing the 15-20 year olds," Paul muses. "That would be a question I would have. Because she doesn't talk about the Federal Reserve and some of these issues. She doesn't talk too much about personal liberties, civil liberties, getting rid of drug laws, attacking the war on drugs, punishing people who torture."

Strange, we don't recall ever having been members of any country club, nor do any Palin supporters we know have such memberships. How out of touch with the people can Ron Paul be? In fact, most of the Palin backers we know are blue collar conservatives, not Rockerfeller elites. They are much more interested in the latest NASCAR standings than  in who is atop the PGA  leader board. 

As for the Palins themselves, it's unlikely that they belong to any country club. Golf is not their game. Sarah is a runner, and Todd is into snowmobiles, not golf carts. And with all that hunting and fishing they do, it's doubful that they have either the  time or inclination for the game of golf. Sarah and Todd both played basketball in their youth, and their kids are more familiar with the hockey stick than the nine iron. We have it on good authority that the Palin clan has been known to ski, however, Alaska being more of a place suited to the winter sports.

And if you were to check the membership rolls of the Lake Jackson Country Club here in Texas, I'll bet real money that you will find the names of Ron Paul and his wife Carol listed as lifetime members.

Paul was always a loose  cannon. His lying lips now tell us he's also a hypocrite.

Update 1: On reflection, it is the country club Republicans who have been most critical of Sarah Palin. That would be the Peggy Noonans, the David Frums and the Colin Powells of the GOP's Vichy wing.

And if Sarah Palin were to advocate for legalizing the same drugs that are enslaving and killing our children, her supporters would drop her like a hot hockey puck.

Paul must not have been paying attention when, in her resignation announcement, Gov. Palin said:

"Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities."

And again:

"...We can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint."

Smaller government and less government intervention are essential to those personal and civil liberties Ron Paul claims that Sarah Palin doesn't talk much about.

Paul is so far off base about Sarah Palin that he is way out there in left field.

Update 2: More from Evergreen Conservative, Adam Brickley, Lew Waters and Thomas Lifson, with thanks to the latter for the link.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Cmte. 2nd Quarter Newsletter

The latest edition of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee's Newsletter is out. If you haven't signed up for your free subscription yet, go here, scroll down and fill in the form boxes on the left.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Cmte.forms Executive Board

The 2012 Draft Sarah Committee formed an Executive Board of Directors last week to guide the PAC in its mission to encourage Governor Sarah Palin to run for President in 2012.

Formed in mid-November by co-founders Paul Streitz of Darien, CT and David L. Kelly of Colorado Springs, CO, the grassroots action group has grown from just a handful of supporters to thousands nationwide:

"Over the last five months we have grown rapidly and now have 27 State Organizers who are working hard on our mission and are the backbone of our grassroots efforts," said David Kelly, Treasurer of the Committee. Kelly added, "It was time to take the next step in our organization and build a solid infrastructure within our group to help support our volunteers and keep our focus on having Governor Palin as our next President."

The (9) members of the Executive Board of Directors include Committee members from Alaska to Florida. The Board elected Randy Highsmith, who had been the Florida State Organizer, as the new Committee Chairman.

Highsmith said, "Governor Palin represents so many everyday average working people. She shares our conservative values and is our standard barrier. That is why I am so passionate about our work and cause here at the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee."

Paul Streitz, co-founder and previous Committee Chairman, decided to step down from his post.

Last week, several committee State Organizers held their first monthly "meet-ups" in their local communities. Alaska State Organizer April Moore said:

"If brainstorming ideas with a group as committed and passionate as these folks in Fairbanks are is any indication, soon we will not be able to hold these meetings indoors. From our first meeting, we now have a Fairbanks Organizer and a Facebook Organizer. Volunteer, and there is a job you can do to help 2012 Draft Sarah Committee."

The committee hopes to have State Organizers in every state in the next few months and plans on becoming increasingly active in their communities.

A pdf copy of the news release is here.

- JP