Here comes the Palin Express:
In a move designed to propel her closer to a presidential run, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will set out on a bus tour of the country on Sunday, making stops at symbolic sites along the way.
“Starting this weekend, Sarah Palin will embark on a ‘One Nation’ tour of historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America,” SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford said in a statement to RealClearPolitics. “The tour will originate in Washington, D.C. It will proceed north up the east coast.”
Details were still being hammered out on Thursday, but sources indicated to RCP that the bus tour is expected to last several weeks and will be divided into separate geographical stretches for logistical reasons.
SarahPAC showcases the bus being readied.
We know what’s going to happen, right? Palin will attract huge crowds. She almost always attracts huge crowds: 8,000 on Super Bowl Sunday in Cypress, Texas; 6,000 to 9,000 at a Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisconsin, big crowds in Searchlight, Nevada; Columbia, South Carolina; Vienna, Virginia, etc.
I argued, in relation to Mitch Daniels, that if a potential presidential candidate looks for reasons to not run, he’ll always find them. Similarly, if a candidate looks for reasons to run, those can always be found as well.
When Palin discussed the “fire in the belly” on Greta Van Susteren’s show recently, her only hesitation seemed to focus around her family, citing “a couple of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made. One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children’s part, in order to see their momma run for president!”
Is the bus tour designed to remind her of the joys of campaigning, to demonstrate to herself and her family that she can handle the busy schedule of a campaign and her family’s needs? In other words, is this a dress rehearsal before a serious bid? Or is it one last victory lap before an announcement that disappoints her supporters, but puts her family’s immediate needs first?