Washington, May 30: America is abuzz with plain Palin talk. Using the Memorial Day on Sunday, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, was all set to roar into Washington with a pack of war veterans on their motorcycles and then head off on a bus tour of American landmarks before turning up in the electorally-significant New Hampshire on Friday.
What every Republican wants to know is whether Palin would be throwing her hat into the 2012 presidential ring. She has been keeping everyone guessing with contradictory signals in recent months, but the “One Nation” bus tour that she now embarks on is being viewed by many as a clear pointer that she has made up her mind to enter the race. Others, however, believe that she is still testing the waters.
It is already a crowded Republican field in which Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor, is holding a slender lead over all others as he makes a second bid, having lost the 2008 Republican nomination to Senator John McCain.
Palin, despite not having announced her intent thus far, is projected as a close second to Romney in a Gallup poll released on Thursday (15 per cent to Romney’s 17 per cent). The poll, among Republicans and Republican-inclined independents, took stock of 10 hopefuls for the party nomination, including Congressman Ron Paul, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and former Utah Governor and envoy to China Jon Huntsman.
Ahead of her bus tour that is being seen as perhaps the surest sign that she would jump into the race, Palin attracted attention by telling a friendly anchor of the conservative Fox News channel that she has “a fire in the belly”.
And in a promo for her bus tour, Palin says: “We have a vision for this future of the country…..From Washington to Lincoln to Reagan and now to you. We know that our best days are yet to come.”
McCain believes Palin could defeat President Obama, but says he is far from certain that she will actually jump into the race. “That’s what campaigns are all about,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday”, remarking: “I’ve never seen anyone as mercilessly and relentlessly attacked as I have seen Sarah Palin in the last couple of years. But she also inspires great passion, particularly among the Republican faithful.”
“She’s not your typical politician, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t really matter,” Republican strategist John Feehery told ‘Politico’, adding: “She’s going to have a following, she’s going to create news, and she does it in ways that don’t have structure to them or seem to have any kind of strategy.”
Although the 47-year-old Palin commands more star power than the other candidates, the community of pundits dotting television shows does not think highly of her. “Running for president is not American Idol. She is not a team player,” comments New York Times’ conservative columnist David Brooks, suggesting Palin does not have the attributes to be a president.
——–Agencies