Today’s Morning Jolt begins with what could be one of the biggest stories of the 2014 election cycle . . . or just another comment that never amounts to anything:
A Sarah Palin for Senate Bid? Oh, Please! Oh, Please!
This could be big. On the other hand, we’re all familiar with the phenomenon of eagerly anticipating a big-time, endlessly scrutinized, high-stakes campaign from Sarah Palin, only to find out she’s decided against it.
Sarah Palin may not be done with politics after all.
The former Alaska governor, who was also 2008’s GOP vice presidential nominee, said Tuesday she’s contemplating a bid for U.S. Senate against Democrat Mark Begich. He’s up for re-election in 2014.
“I’ve considered it because people have requested me [to] consider it,” Palin told conservative radio host Sean Hannity on his show. “I’m still waiting to see what the lineup will be. And hoping there will be some new blood, new energy. Not just kind of picking from the same old politicians in the state that come from political families.”
Remember, Obama’s political-activism group, Organizing for Action, has loudly pledged they won’t help Begich at all in 2014 because he voted against the background-check bill. (You’re forgiven for wondering aloud just how many volunteers Organizing for Action has in Alaska, but presumably OfA would be able to steer a lot of donations Begich’s way if they so chose.)
I’m all for a Palin-for-Senate bid; nothing like “Senator Palin of Alaska” and “Senator Liz Cheney of Wyoming” to convince the Left that their world is falling apart. Obviously, she would have enormous fundraising prowess, unparalleled name ID, and her opponent won by about one percentage point over incumbent Republican Ted Stevens, about one month after Stevens was convicted of seven felony counts of failing to report gifts. Sure, a February PPP survey had her trailing Begich considerably, but that’s a theoretical. If nothing else, she would make the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have to spend oodles in Alaska to protect an incumbent.
But it’s tough to get too excited about a Palin bid, considering the number of times she’s made comments that suggested a particular course of action, only to reverse course:
- Back in September 2010, she sounded like she might run for president: “If nobody else wanted to step up, Greta, I would offer myself up in the name of service to the public.”
- Then she announced she wouldn’t run . . . but then she later said, “You know, it’s not too late for folks to jump in and I don’t know. Who knows what will happen in the future?”
- After leaving Fox News in January, she declared, “I encourage others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone, and broaden our reach as believers in American exceptionalism. That means broadening our audience. I’m taking my own advice here as I free up opportunities to share more broadly the message of the beauty of freedom and the imperative of defending our republic and restoring this most exceptional nation. We can’t just preach to the choir; the message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience.” And then . . . in June, she signed up with Fox News Channel again.
- Just a few days ago, asked whether she would form a third party with radio-show host Mark Levin, she sounded like she was open to forming a third party.
So if this Senate bid never comes to fruition . . . will anyone be surprised?