Sarah Palin will give a speech at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa Saturday. CNN reports that Christine O’Donnell was at the center of the controversy that lead to Palin aides putting Palin’s speech “on hold” temporarily yesterday:
The Palin source said O’Donnell’s representatives misled the tea party group about the extent of the governor’s relationship with O’Donnell.
O’Donnell’s representatives told event organizers that she would be in Iowa on the date of the rally and would like to come by and “say hi” to Palin, the source said. O’Donnell was then added to the speaking agenda.
The source told CNN that O’Donnell aides lied to organizers and said Palin had been communicating via text message with O’Donnell about the rally.
“The governor hasn’t spoken to her in a year,” the Palin source said of O’Donnell. …
An aide to O’Donnell disputed that people close to her mischaracterized her relationship with Palin to the Iowa rally organizers and asserted they did not lie about the extent of conversations between the two late Wednesday.
Palin, who has indicated she will announce her presidential decision no later than the end of September, will visit South Korea in October to speak at the World Knowledge Forum.