Politico published another story Friday, following countless similar stories, about why Sarah Palin isn't doing the things she needs to do to run a "serious" presidential campaign. "I don't think theater wins elections," Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason is quoted as saying about her and her bus tour.
"Running for president is a very serious thing and you need to deal with it as such," Gleason said. "I'm looking for party builders."
It's unclear if, even if Palin announced tomorrow, she'd do the kinds of things that the regional GOP bosses like Gleason insist that she do: namely meet with them and show them some love. That will be the sine quibus non of the campaigns of Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, and we'll see how far that gets them. Palin's never been fond of GOP bosses, the rank-and-file, the elites, the establishment or whatever else you call it. (In Alaska, during the good ol' days it was the "good ol' boys.") And she never hid her distain, which made her the darling of both the media and the grassroots in Alaska. We'll see how that works down there, but judging from all the attention she's getting, she's certainly doing something right.
Daniel Larison sums it up nicely in The American Conservative:
But perhaps more importantly, if Palin begins the kind of on-the-ground organization efforts that so many claim she must in order to be a serious candidate, then she enters into fuzzy Federal Election Commission territory, where her campaign contributions might be limited. As both the Washington Post and I reported, the FEC calls it the "testing the waters" phase, commonly known as setting up an exploratory committee, both of which yesterday she pointedly denied doing.
However, if it looks like she's doing just that -- and not declaring it as such -- then someone is likely going to complain to the FEC. Other candidates have gotten away with "testing the waters" without declaring they are "testing the waters," but Palin likely won't be able to. She's being watched too closely. And how would it look for her, the anti-politician, to enter the race with a campaign violation investigation hanging over her head?
Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com.