Palin Not Interested in Senate Seat
Well, I thought with the upcoming exit of Ted Steven (US Senator from Alaska), Sarah Palin might have been interested in running for his seat.
She shed some light on that last night:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she is not interested in running for the U.S. Senate and prefers her current position as governor of Alaska.
“No, I’m not planning on it because I think the people of Alaska will best be served with me as their governor,” Palin, who has two years left in her term, told NBC television in an interview.
I still think the Senate position is a strong move to keep Palin relevant in the leadership of the GOP.
Maybe she has other plans…
November 12th, 2008 at 11:48 am
She will stay out of the Stevens seat for more than one reason. The first is that it is that kind of activity got Alaska on the map several years ago when the Governor appointed his daughter to the other Senate seat. There isn’t a way that Palin can put herself in Steven’s seat without drawing up images of that event which was very unpopular.
The second is that in some ways that is a step down. You are right that she needs to keep relevant, but I think there are other ways for her to do that and I think that she would actually benefit with a year or so of “downtime” from the national attention. Time that she can just get things done in Alaska.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Serving as a US senator should automatically disqualify you for the Presidency for life.
Unless maybe you go home and serve a term as governor first.
I think Governor Palin gets that. As was noted on the Corner blog yesterday, now she needs to stay in the Governor’s chair, get out on the rubber chicken circuit to be seen by the adoring throngs, bone up on the things she would have learned by being Vice President, and announce for the Presidency sometime in mid-2011.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
She can wait until mid-2011 to announce, but what Fred taught us is that she should probably start gathering her team and state level supporters at least by late 2010, if not now.
That applies to anyone who is serious about the idea. One of Fred’s issues was that by the time he got into the game, all of the good political state operatives had already picked one of the horses already in the fight and they were not going to change horses in mid-race.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Well, I’m naturally assuming that the 2012 campaign won’t start till about a year out. (Yeah, right.)
Of course, if some clown starts campaigning in 2010, she’ll have to move up her timeline.
I agree wholeheartedly that Fred waited too long, and said so at the time.