Her most die hard volunteers are busy organizing independently for what they believe is a certain bid for the White House in 2012.
But where has Sarah Palin been?
Aside from recently traveling to Iowa for a movie premiere and taking a bus trip across the country, the former governor of Alaska isn’t doing much to signify she’s gearing up for a run — at least, not in the open.
And when it comes to press coverage, she’s losing the spotlight to Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, who recently joined the presidential race.
“The press is always looking for the bright, shiny object that distracts them and is fresh and new,” said Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern University in Boston. “It doesn’t take long to go from being the fresh and new thing to yesterday’s headline.”
“I think that would all change in a heart beat if Palin should declare her candidacy,” he told TheDC. (Huntman’s website: Double the donation with one for your spouse)
Many observers doubt that’s actually going to happen.
Still, a volunteer network of supporters — who say they are confident Palin will pull the trigger on a 2012 run — are making sure Iowa isn’t forgetting about her. They don’t buy the growing notion that she’s likely not getting in the race.
“Is it too late to enter the race? Absolutely not,” Peter Singleton, who is helping to lead the Organize4Palin volunteer effort for Palin in Iowa, told The Daily Caller. “Is there a point where it’ll be too late to enter the race? Probably. But she knows that better than I do. We’re not at that point here in Iowa.”
“There’s a different set of rules that apply for Sarah Palin,” Singleton said in a phone interview.
The unpaid volunteers are working to establish relationships, especially in Iowa, he said.
“We now know a lot of people in Iowa,” Singleton said. “We have a lot of people in Iowa that are on our team. We have a mailing list. We keep in touch with folks. It provides a foundation of relationships and people if Gov. Palin gets in the race. And I think she will.”
Tim Crawford, a spokesman for SarahPAC, didn’t return a request to comment for this story. But Palin continues to tease when asked about running for president, saying she still hasn’t made up her mind. (Palin says Daily Mail lied about her sobbing because of ‘The Undefeated’)
Nearly everything she does is scrutinized for what it means about her thinking about a presidential run.
When Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour appeared to take a hiatus, many in the media took it to mean she grew tired of testing the enthusiasm for a candidacy. But Palin knocked that down too, saying that she had to return to Alaska because “even former governors get called up for jury duty.”
Other hints include her daughter Bristol, telling “Fox and Friends” that her mother had already made up her mind about 2012, though Palin responded by saying Bristol shouldn’t talk about private family conversations in public.
And at a recent gathering of Tea Party activists in Washington, a reporter led an informal straw poll of who the grassroots activists would support for president. Many were already behind Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who hasn’t announced a run yet either. While they made it clear they liked Palin, very few people actually said she’s their top choice.
“She’s not running,” yelled out one activist.
So what if Palin ultimately decides against a run, devastating the volunteers?
“I don’t worry about the things I don’t have control over,” Singleton said.