What we’ve learned about Sarah Palin’s presidential aspirations from her bus tour

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Reporters chasing Sarah Palin across the country as she tours historic sites by bus keep asking her the same question: “Are you running for president?”

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know,” Palin told The New York Times. “It’s still a matter of looking at the field and considering much. There truly is a lot to consider before you throw yourself out there in the name of service to the public because its so all consuming.”

“I don’t know if I’m running yet,” the Wall Street Journal reported she said while touring the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

“Oh, you know, we’re still thinking about it,” the former governor of Alaska said, according to the Huffington Post.

Her husband, Todd Palin, said, “it’s up to her what she decides to do.”

“I am not pushing her either way,” he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s her decision. There are pros and cons, of course. But this country, we have to get back on the right track.”

Palin also told reporters following her on the bus tour that she’s against ethanol subsidies, a touchy issue in corn rich Iowa.

Palin began her “One Nation” bus tour Sunday in Washington D.C., riding a Harley Davidson in the annual Rolling Thunder event. On Monday, she visited several D.C. tourist spots, like the National Archives and Mount Vernon, before visiting Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. She has also visited Gettysburg and the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania. She reportedly dined with Donald Trump Tuesday night.

She has denied that the bus tour is tied to her deciding about a presidential run, instead saying it’s about visiting the country’s historical sites.

There is no public schedule of her tour, leaving both her fans and the media in the dark about where’s she’s going next. And Palin hasn’t hidden the fact that she doesn’t want to make it easy for the press to cover her.

“I don’t think I owe anything to the mainstream media. I want them to have to do a little bit of work on a tour like this,” she said, according to CNN.

And the New York Times on Monday pointed out that while Palin was visiting the National Archive, a reporter in D.C. yelled out, “Sarah, where are you going next?” After responding, “Mount Vernon,” she then realized the person was in the press and said, “Oh — you are a reporter, darn you!”