Gov. Palin won't appear at OH and NJ TPX rallies after all

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When the Tea Party Express rolls into Toms River, News Jersey Sunday night, Sarah Palin most likely won't be on the bus, as had been previously reported by the Asbury Park Press:

"Her staff has recently indicated that she will not be coming, so unless we hear otherwise, we're assuming she will not attend," Levi Russell, communications director for the Tea Party Express, said in an e-mail tonight. "There has been a lot of speculation and rumors that she may be there — really don't know what the source is — certainly not from the Tea Party Express."

[...]

Steve Lonegan, state director of Americans for Prosperity and a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, had sent out an e-mail blast — a large number of e-mails sent at once — mail to followers about an anticipated Palin visit to generate a big turnout in Toms River while Tea Party followers enthusiastically sent similar e-mails to get their supporters to come out.

[More]

Gov. Palin also will probably be absent from a bus tour Saturday stop in Ohio, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch:

Will former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin show up when the Tea Party Express hits central Ohio on Saturday?

"Most likely not," say the organizers of the event. They have also pointed out that the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee sometimes appears with little notice.

Bill Cohen of station WCPN had reported on October 19 that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate would make an appearance at the Columbus rally.

- JP

No Gov. Palin in New Jersey October 31 (Updated)

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Citing Americans for Prosperity as its source, the Asbury Park Press is reporting that Sarah Palin will be with the Tea party Express when its bus tour stops in Toms River, New Jersey Halloween night:

Palin will be traveling with the Tea Party Express as it travels through New Jersey on its fourth nationwide tour. A stop in front of the township Town Hall on Washington Street is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday.

State Tea Party coordinator Mark Falzon was the first to confirm the Palin visit.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Palin and the tour will also make a stop in Wilmington, Delaware.

h/t: Sarah Palin Blog

Update: Gov. Palin won't be appearing at this event after all. Details here.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Chris Daggett’s claims are false.

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook Notes page again, this time to post a response to what she says is Chris Daggett's claim that she pressured him to drop out of the New Jersey gubernatorial race:

NJ’s Governor’s Race: Candidate Plays Loose With Facts?

Despite what candidate Chris Daggett is claiming, I have never contacted him or his campaign. I have never asked him to drop out of the NJ Governor’s race. Now, if a politician is going to play loose with facts like this, the electorate needs to know it.

So, to the good people of New Jersey, please know that Daggett’s claims are false. I’ve never even suggested he should drop out of the race. But, come to think of it…

- Sarah Palin

According to C4P's Mel Bryant, Daggett said during an MSNBC interview Sunday morning that former Governor Palin and others have pressured him to withdraw from the New Jersey Governor’s race.

More from Smitty at Stacy McCain's place in Sarah Palin and the Deft Play.

Related: Moe Lane, on Sarah's last sentence, above:

"Ouch. You want to keep playing, Daggett?"

Update: George Stephanopoulos on how Daggett and his campaign got it wrong:

A Daggett spokesman acknowledges that Daggett’s claim on MSNBC was incorrect.

"She never contacted us asking us to drop out," Daggett spokesman Tom Johnson told ABC News.

Johnson said Daggett got the incorrect impression about Palin from people on his campaign bus who themselves were mistaken and relying on an unsubstantiated blog item.

That would be this blog, but the blogger has scrubbed the "unsubstatiated blog item" and replaced it with a rant which attempts to blame everything on Sarah Palin. The blogger quotes Daggett from an appearance on MSNBC, but the conveniently leaves out the MSNBC anchor's question. Again, from Steph, here's the full exchange that took place on MSNBC:

MSNBC: “How about the GOP? Have they given you any pressure to step aside? You know, you would think, because it would seem that you’re pulling more from Chris Christie’s camp, as I said, and if the election does go, say, to Jon Corzine, if you have that moniker of ‘spoiler’ put at the end of your name. How do you feel?”

DAGGETT: “I don’t worry one way or another about it to be honest with you. And I have had Republicans come in from Rudy Giuliani to Sarah Palin to Christy Mihos, who is running for governor in Massachusetts, to people in the New Jersey Republican Party. And to be honest with you, they don’t understand. I am not running as a disgruntled Republican. I am running as a person who believes that neither party has been willing or able to step up to the issues that face the state and make the tough decisions and we need that kind of leadership in New Jersey if we’re ever going to fix the problems that face the state.”

Context, context context.

- JP