Walshe on Grizzly Fest

This is how ABC News' Sushannah Walshe covered Grizzly Fest:
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Sarah Palin’s most passionate supporters held an online forum today to assess what they should do going forward, now that the former Alaska governor has announced she won’t enter the GOP 2012 field.

Participants of the forum, called Grizzlyfest, came together for three hours to praise Palin, plot how they will continue their grassroots political organizing in 2012, and how they will choose 2012 candidates after Palin stunned the group last month when she announced she would not seek the GOP nomination. The running theme of the event was that despite their chosen candidate’s decision, they will stay active in conservative politics.

Josh Painter, who runs the blog Texans for Sarah Palin, acknowledged that many supporters he knew were still “coming out of shock” at Palin’s decision, but that Grizzlyfest was an “excellent opportunity” to assess “where we are and where we are going.”

The forum at times sounded like a support group aimed at re-energizing the group who had devoted so much time to supporting Palin — some even moving to early states to campaign for the non-candidate — convinced she would run for president.
Palin did not participate in the event, but her brother, Chuck Heath Jr., called into the forum.

Panelist Nicole Coulter, an editor at the pro-Palin site Conservatives4Palin, asked the question that kept popping up on the event’s chat page where listeners could ask questions of the panelists: Can you convince Palin to change her mind?

“I can’t convince Sarah of anything,” Heath said. “But I will definitely work on her. I understand the reason that she had for not running, but I look at the other choices and it was painful for me, too. Honestly not because she’s my sister, but I honestly thought she was the best candidate out there. I’ll keep working on her.”

[More]

- JP

Shushannah Walsh: Could This Be the Week Sarah Palin Gets in the Race?

In Iowa, "a state senator and a donor with another campaign" are ready to jump to Palin.
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Shushannah Walsh, speculating at ABC News' The Note, points out that while Gov. Palin had told Jake Tapper that the end of September was "kind of a drop-dead timeline” for a decision on whether to get into the presidential race, the first Republican woman to be her party's vice presidential candidate also agreed with Sean Hannity that the end of October would be the latest she could announce because of legal filing deadlines. Walshe, like everyone else with the likely exception of Todd Palin, reviews the clues in search of a decision date for the Mama Grizzly whose tracks more recently resemble those of the Arctic Fox:

Saturday’s P5 or Presidential 5 Conference Straw Poll sponsored by the Florida GOP was a clear rejection of the two frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Despite strong speeches by Herman Cain—who won the poll with 37 percent of the vote—the delegates were definitely looking for another candidate and that is sure to be another signal to Palin that she can still get in. Of course, Perry’s poor performance at Thursday night’s Fox News/Google debate is another sign that getting in to the race late isn’t easy.

Steve Bannon, who made the Palin documentary, “The Undefeated” and remains close to Palin, thinks it’s a “big opportunity” because “the current list of candidates have failed to catch the imagination of either the conservative movement or the general electorate.”

“She’s making her own decision. It’s exactly what she has said 1,000 times. It’s her own decision and it’s in consultation with her family and through prayer, and that’s what I’m sure she’s spending a lot of time thinking about in Alaska,” Bannon told ABC News. “This is a life-altering decision.”

Just last week, SarahPAC sent out a fundraising appeal asking for donations because, as the message put it, Palin was “on the verge of making her decision of whether or not to run for office.”

That money cannot be used for a presidential campaign and, although the PAC will need funds, whether she runs or not it could be seen as a sign that she’s not going to get in the race and the organization is trying to pad the coffers before she lets the world know. Of course, if she does enter the race, money is likely to pour in as soon as she announced.

[...]

At least in the first caucus state of Iowa, Palin has help outside of the network of grassroots volunteers. A longtime GOP fundraiser in the state who has become a friend of the Palins, Becky Beach is ready to start raising money if Palin pulls the trigger, but even she has no idea if she will get in the race.

“I don’t know if she will or she won’t run, but if she does decide to do it I’ve already had a state senator and a donor with another campaign say if she were to get in they would jump to her,” Beach said.

[More]

From Sun Tzu, the great military strategist, we are reminded that all warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, feign inactivity. Offer your enemy a bait to lure him; feign disorder, and then strike when he is least prepared for it. Those skilled in war avoid the enemy when his spirit is keen and attack him when it is sluggish.

- JP

Rewind: Open Doors

"Throughout her whole career, she has always been underestimated."
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The exact quote from Gov. Palin was, "And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door." She made the comment in an interview with Greta Van Susteren November 10, 2008.

But Scott Conroy paraphrased it well enough in this appearance he made with Shushannah Walshe on The O'Reilly Factor nearly a year later:


h/t: Free Republic

- JP

Shushannah Walshe on Day 2 of the One NationTour

Palin’s ease with a rope line and her politicking skills are one of her best assets
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Shushannah Walshe, who covers the political beat for The Daily Beast and co-wrote Sarah From Alaska, reports on the second day of Gov. Palin’s One Nation bus tour, during which the governor dropped a few hints about what a potential Palin presidential campaign might look like, while keeping reporters earning their paycheck in the media's scramble to catch up with her:

At each stop Monday on her family vacation/testing the waters bus tour, Palin was greeted by supporters urging her to run, and by some reporters who were able to figure out her schedule. So far, she appears to be enjoying this untraditional tour immensely. It is clear that if she does run, her campaign won’t look anything like those of her rivals.

According to a source with knowledge of Palin’s thinking, the tour is a test of whether she can do it “her way,” which the source described as “nontraditional, low-cost, high-tech…. The key is to be totally unpredictable and always keep her rivals off-balance.

After two days on the road, Palin now realizes a campaign “could be fun and exciting,” the source said, and she’s getting “more into the swing of things” as she tours and realizes “the press is not hostile to her.” The source added that a “big part” of the tour was husband Todd Palin’s idea; he wanted to get “back onto the road, get into the swing of things, and see how the family pulled together.”

[...]

Unscripted moments that go badly can haunt a politician on YouTube during a campaign and into the future, but Palin’s ease with a rope line and her politicking skills are one of her best assets. A Palin campaign may not have a press bus or the more formal interviews that reporters crave, but her team will undoubtedly factor in added time for her to greet supporters and campaign not just in large rallies but one on one as well.

[...]

Besides touring the Gettysburg battlefields, where she may lay a wreath, Palin also is expected to make a stop Tuesday at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. From there her tour heads north to New York City, with a possible stop at Ellis Island, and then on to the first primary state of New Hampshire.

[More]

Though Walshe describes the One Nation tour as a "testing the waters" endeavor, we believe that it may also be a test for the Palin and Heath families. They have already felt the impact of a vice presidential campaign on the family, but it was one poorly managed by the McCain team, and more importantly, it was done someone else's way. This time they are getting at least some glimpses of what a presidential campaign could be like when done their way. If the Heaths and Palins can have some fun along the way on this road trip, when and if it comes to a vote of family members, it may more likely be "yes," with perhaps a "hell yes" or two for good measure.

- JP

Confirmed: Sarah Palin to Visit Iowa (Updated)

"Could Palin leave some of the less charismatic candidates in the dust?"
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The Daily Beast's Shushannah Walshe wrote this morning:

According to a source with knowledge of Palin’s operation and thinking, keep a careful eye on how long the tour lasts, because it is intended as a way to test the presidential waters. If the road trip ends abruptly, it’s a sign she didn’t get the enthusiastic responses she believes she needs to launch a campaign. If the tour heads to regions outside of the Northeast like Iowa and South Carolina that, the source says, is a “big indicator” that Palin will pull the trigger.

If Ms. Walshe's source is right, and if RCP's Scott Conroy's sources are right, then Gov. Palin just fired a round and hit the target dead center:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will travel to Iowa next month as part of her nationwide bus tour, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan told RealClearPolitics.

Palin's trip to the nation's first voting state -- where she has not yet set foot this year --will further escalate the already feverish speculation that she is leaning toward a White House run.

Though Palin has insisted that her "One Nation" bus tour -- being kicked off from Washington over the holiday weekend -- is intended merely to "highlight America's foundation," RCP has learned that the road trip was designed as a test run to find out whether she can execute a decidedly unconventional campaign game plan.

Palin -- and especially her husband, Todd -- is said to be leaning toward running. But multiple sources said that their foremost remaining concern was whether it would be logistically feasible for their large family to hit the road together for the next several months in a prospective campaign that would rely heavily on bus travel.

The answer to that question will play a critical role in how the 2012 race develops.

[...]

A political Merry Prankster, Palin clearly relishes her unique ability to confound and surprise her prospective opponents, as she test-drives a possible presidential run that she and her team -- with a discernible wink -- have publicly billed as something akin to a mere sightseeing trip.

[More]

This game is soooo on...

Update: Gov. Palin confirmed to CNN Monday that that her "One Nation" bus tour will roll across the key presidential primary state of Iowa:

"I'm sure at some point I will be going to Iowa," Palin said during a visit to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. "At some point."

The comments come on the heels of a RealClearPolitics website story that said Palin is planning a visit to Iowa in June, the same month a documentary about her rise to power is set to debut in the Hawkeye State.

[More]

Her tour through Iowa would be her first trip to The Hawkeye State since she made a book tour stop there in December. The governor's most recent speaking engagement in the state was a fund-raising dinner for the Iowa GOP last September.

- JP

Walshe: Overseas trip getting closer to reality for Gov. Palin? (Updated)

Israel and UK likely destinations in the new year
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Gov. Palin's long-rumored overseas excursion may be resolving into more concrete plans. The Daily Beast's Shushannah Walshe reports that Sarah Palin will be visiting Israel and England, both countries she has said she wanted to travel to in the past. Walshe says the schedule and itinerary is still being firmed up, but points out that a trip overseas next year will boost Gov. Palin's foreign policy credentials, which would be a plus for her should she decide to run for president in 2012:

Up to now Palin’s travel outside of North America includes visiting troops in Germany and Kuwait while she was governor and last year she gave a speech on the economy in Hong Kong. During the 2008 campaign, there was some confusion about whether she had also visited Iraq when traveling to see soldiers in Kuwait, but that turned out to be a visit to the border. McCain staffers at the time also said she had visited Ireland, but that was a re-fueling stopover.

Palin has long wanted to visit Israel, and in a recent Facebook post wishing the Jewish community a Happy Hanukkah she reconfirmed her support for the Jewish state: “Today we should all recommit ourselves to ensuring that the miracle of a Jewish state endures forever. The dreidel is one of the most familiar symbols of Hanukkah, with Hebrew letters on it representing the phrase Nes Gadol Haya Sham—‘a great miracle happened there.’ Indeed a great miracle is still happening there.”

Last June, Palin announced on her Facebook page that she had been invited to visit London and have a meeting with one of her “political heroines,” Margaret Thatcher. She also wished the “Iron Lady,” who suffers from dementia, a happy birthday in October.

The former Alaska governor was criticized in 2008 for her limited global travel, but this first foreign trip post-governorship would burnish her foreign-policy credentials and would certainly be accompanied by a media frenzy as both the Israeli and English press follow her closely.

Walshe notes that the governor has two foreign policy advisors, Randy Scheunemann and Michael Goldfarb, and she has been writing more often about issues of global interest on her Facebook page.

Update: Palin aide Rebecca Mansour, via email to NRO, says that “the governor has no firm plans that she will announce right now for an Israel or UK trip.”

- JP

Walshe: Palin team ramps up for 2012.

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Shushannah Walshe seems to be making a good living off of Sarah Palin these days. No, she's not a member of Gov. Palin's team, but her most recent article for The Daily Beast was written about the governor's team. And it's just the latest of a number of articles the writer has authored about the former 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate. Walshe struck gold as co-author of the book Sarah From Alaska and has continued to mine the seam ever since. Here are a few excerpts from the newest DB piece:

Given the size of the shadow she’s casting over the political landscape, it might come as something of a surprise that her political operation is a very compact crew of core loyalists. Outside advisers like Randy Scheuenemann and Michael Goldfarb of Orion Strategies, veterans of Palin’s 2008 vice-presidential run, still advise her on foreign policy. But the engine room of Palin’s stunning 2010 presence is a group of less than 10 people, who make up SarahPAC.

That core group will soon be tested anew, as the midterm endorsements circuit gives way to the construction in earnest of a 2012 White House campaign. This week, Palin heads to the all-important first caucus state of Iowa, where she’ll headline the state GOP’s Ronald Reagan Dinner in Des Moines—following close on the heels of prospective Republican rival Mitt Romney, who has a similarly sized PAC outfit at this stage, but is generating nowhere near the kind of media coverage Palin receives.

If Palin has made any final, official decision to run, she’s kept it from her inner circle of advisers; no doubt she’s mulling her next move with her closest confidant, her husband Todd. But lately, alongside the personal tweets that have been a primary means of communicating with the outside world in recent months, Team Palin has begun issuing press releases. The smoke signals indicate her staff has begun working in earnest on a White House run.

“No one has been told directly, but staffers are working under the assumption that she’s running," says one former aide who has knowledge of the inner workings of the PAC, who requested anonymity talking about his ex-boss’ plans. "It has become very apparent to everyone on her staff that she is preparing to run for president. The staff is now working. They are writing speeches, preparing talking points, picking congressmen to endorse all under the umbrella of what you would do two years out before running for president and that’s their understanding. It’s a 2012 ball game, and they should plan on that basis.”

Ask her staff about this observation, and its members remain coy.

“No one can speak for her on that [2012],” said Rebecca Mansour, one of Palin’s top aides. “Nobody should underestimate her and I believe that she knows that to change the country, we have to change the Congress. So these elections are important to her because that’s what she’s focused on.”

But surely, if Palin’s endorsees are elected this fall and in office come 2012, it would be easier for her to govern, Mansour is asked. “Bingo,” the aide replies.

(More)

The rest is available for reading here.

- JP

Walshe: Another Strong Primary Night for Palin

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Shushannah Walshe at The Daily Beast on Sarah Palin's excellent primary night:

Sarah Palin had another successful primary night on Tuesday with conservative activist Christine O’Donnell’s stunning victory in Delaware. The surprise win, much like Palin endorsee Joe Miller’s big victory over incumbent Lisa Murkowski in Alaska’s Senate GOP primary last month, has political observers reeling. With 53 percent of the vote, O’Donnell beat Mike Castle, a popular 20-year veteran of the small state’s only House seat and a two-term governor.

After initially meeting with O’Donnell at the Restoring Honor rally with Glenn Beck on Aug. 28, Palin endorsed her last week. In backing the insurgent candidate, the former governor joined the Tea Party Express, which, as in Alaska, had been raising money and canvassing for O’Donnell for weeks. Palin also recorded a last-minute robo-call expressing her support for her newest “Mama Grizzly,” her nickname for the female candidates she backed.

Palin “got behind us war-weary folks, and gave us a boost of encouragement when we needed it,” O’Donnell said. “And she was a vote against the politics of personal destruction.”

Until Palin’s endorsement, O’Donnell was thought not to stand a chance against Castle, but a poll released Sunday by Public Policy Polling sounded the warning alarm when it had O’Donnell up three points.

In front of screaming supporters, O’Donnell thanked Palin in her speech Tuesday night.

“Thank you, Gov. Palin, for your endorsement. Because she got behind us war-weary folks, and gave us a boost of encouragement when we needed it,” O’Donnell said. “And she was a vote against the politics of personal destruction.”

O’Donnell might have been Palin’s biggest win, but it wasn’t her only one: former FBI agent and combat veteran Michael Grimm sailed to victory in the NY-13 GOP primary for the House seat representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. In Wisconsin, Sean Duffy, former district attorney and star of MTV’s The Real World, beat his challenger in his primary in that state’s 7th Congressional District. And in the NY-2 House race, businessman John Gomez was uncontested and did not face a GOP primary.

There was at least one loss for Palin: In Maryland, Brian Murphy lost his primary against former Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr...

You can read the rest here.

- JP