CHQ: Majority of Conservative Activists want Palin to Run

88 percent say Run Sarah, Run
*
Christopher Bedford reports that a recent poll of the conservative and Tea Party activists who are members of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ reveals that 88 percent want Sarah Palin to make a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. 48 percent of those polled say that even if not successful, a Palin run would, "move the primaries in a positive and conservative direction." Only 13% of the activists polled believe such a run would be both unsuccessful and harmful to the GOP.

In a column last week, Viguerie answered Joe Scarborough's recent attack on Gov. Palin and stated that a Palin candidacy would motivate the GOP base while challenging the, "establishment types, bluebloods, political consultants, media elites and all those who contribute to the political and moral deterioration of the Republican Party."

- JP

Viguerie: Palin's Foes May Push Her to Run in 2012

Those attempting to tear her down may be kicking up more than they bargain for
*
Joe Scarborough’s Politico hit piece on Gov. Palin this week may end up having the effect of persuading more conservatives that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate should run for president in 2012, rather than discouraging such a run, according to longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie. The direct mail pioneer and current chairman of ConservativeHQ.com made the suggestion in a Newsmax op-ed:

Sarah Palin is the Republican “it” girl right now because she yields no ground to establishment types, blue bloods, political consultants, media elites and all those who contributed to the political and moral deterioration of the Republican Party.

Palin was ahead of the curve in taking on the GOP establishment, which is why she is a tea party favorite. She is now what Ronald Reagan said in 1976 we needed in our leaders: those who are unfettered by old ties and old relationships.

If Palin were to run, even if she didn’t win she would unquestionably transform the GOP primary for the better. Her mere force of presence would require Republican contestants to address issues they otherwise wouldn’t — in ways they otherwise wouldn’t.

In a time when the GOP teeters between returning to its constitutional small-government roots and remaining the party of Democrat-lite, Palin has a confluence of several appeals that most other prospective GOP candidates lack. Add to that her tea party credentials, and she’s hands-down a bigger big-tent prospective candidate than Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, and others frequently named.

Most importantly, Palin is a boat rocker who isn’t afraid to say the Republican Party needs to move in a direction it hasn’t even debated in over a decade, and actually shrink the size of the federal government.

[More]

Texas-born Viguerie makes his home in Virginia.

- JP