Palin bus tour to roll into Iowa
(CNN) - After a more than two-month hiatus, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is planning to crash the presidential party once again with a heartland-themed re-launch of her "One Nation" bus tour this week in Iowa, according to a Palin fundraising email obtained by CNN.
Palin is bringing her Constitution-draped bus to the Iowa State Fair, just 30 miles south of where the Republican presidential field will take the stage on Thursday for a presidential debate in Ames.
It's not yet clear which day the tour begins, but her surprise arrival in Iowa will happen before the closely watched Ames straw poll. Palin is not on the straw poll ballot.
According to a video link included the fundraising solicitation for Palin's political action committee, Sarah PAC, it appears the bus will also take Palin to Missouri and Illinois to visit the respective hometowns of former presidents Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.
"The heartland is perfect territory for more of the One Nation Tour as we put forth efforts to revitalize the fundamental restoration of America by highlighting our nation's heart, history, and founding principles," Palin wrote in the email.
Sarah PAC Treasurer Tim Crawford would not provide more the details about the tour.
During the opening act of her bus tour in May, Palin toured historical sites along the East Coast, grabbing countless headlines along the way and stealing a share of the political spotlight from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who announced his presidential bid in New Hampshire at the same time her bus was driving into the state.
Federal paperwork reveals that her political action committee shelled out nearly $20,000 on the tour this spring.
The bus tour sequel adds even more drama to a blockbuster political week in Iowa, which holds the first contest in the presidential nomination fight.
Along with the debate and the make-or-break straw poll, most of the Republican candidates are slated to deliver stump speeches this week at the Iowa State Fair on the Des Moines Register-sponsored political soapbox.
And on Sunday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Palin ally who is on the verge of joining the 2012 race, will make his Iowa debut at a Republican fundraising dinner in Waterloo.
Palin's re-emergence in Iowa just hours before the debate is a reminder that the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee intends to remain part of the presidential discussion as long as possible, despite being largely dismissed by party insiders.
While polls show that Republicans harbor doubts about whether she should run for president, Palin would undoubtedly be a factor in the GOP primary thanks to her popularity among conservative activists and a knack for attracting media attention.
A Gallup survey out Tuesday showed that Palin generates more enthusiasm among GOP voters than most of the candidates already in the race. And as Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently put it, "she could raise enough money to burn a wet mule."
Her advisers have long emphasized that such star power gives her the ability to delay a decision about joining the race until after Labor Day.
Palin has pointed to September as a loose deadline for making a decision about whether she will seek the GOP presidential nomination.
There is also anecdotal evidence that Palin has the potential to shake up the Republican race in Iowa.
Despite having no formal campaign infrastructure in the state, hundreds of supporters turned out in June to catch a glimpse of Palin when a sympathetic film about her rise to power debuted in Pella.
She has plans to return to the state over Labor Day weekend for a Tea Party rally in the Des Moines area.
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One Nation Tour? I'm sure she can unify the country as probably the most hated candidate out there.
It's about time for Piper to start school, isn't it? It will be interesting to see if she's on this bus tour, once again missing out on a much needed education.
Palin is the Kim Kardashian of politics. (sorry Kim, I meant no disrespect)
Can't say I'm a Sarah Palin fan. Ron Paul I like... Gingrich too... But I'd settle for Obama over Sarah Palin any day.
Has anyone told Sarah that the term of office for the President of the United States is four years? Not two.
An intelligent president has not faired well in generating jobs.
What the heck Bubba, let's try this woman who's as uniformed and dumb as a rock but she is kinda' purty.
Governor Palin spoke out against QE 1 and QE2 and raising the debt ceiling. That was political suicide. But she was right. She may seem dumb because you do not understand what she sees. She sees the way out of America's economic spiral downward. But Obama and his team do not see nor can they lead America out into energy independence and job creation. Palin worked with the Democrats in Alaska to force Exxon to drill or get out. they held drilling leases for 20 years but would never drill. Exxon threatened her team saying, "You do not know who you are dealing with." She stood her ground and Exxon lost and had to drill or leave. They drilled and jobs and $ came pumping out for Alaskans and America.
There's a lot of hypocrites or maybe just one on here with different Screen names trying to cut down Sarah but not with her policies but with superficial nonsense. She has a strategy of beating all including your messiah.
Wow, what a bonehead.
Extra Extra, read all about it. Republican Party "Court Jester" soon to arrive in Iowa ...
Everyone tolerates the fool, but NO ONE elects them King or Queen. No One.
Al you people saying bad things about sarah suck my balls !! She wil become the GOP Presidential canadite and she wil beat OBAMa!! Can you smelllla what Sarah is Cooking!!
Go Sarah Go!!!! Please run in 2012!
Tina Fey for PRESIDENT!
We're about to learn how Paul Revere, after flashing the Bat-Signal to the British to let them know that the Beatles were coming, fled to Iowa and befriended Radar O'Reilly's ancestors
monday morning quarterback tour?
Give me a break people. What God fearing person disrespects authority and acts like the immature country hick she is. I suggest she go back to the hills and live off the land like the disrespectful animal she and all of followers are.Just plain white trash. Do u really want to how I feel? The tea is a BIG joke to me! Continue to entain me!
Guess she is bored just watching all the attention she is not getting she blew it really she is really dumb' I think I know more about politics then she dos . I guess she dosnt like all the attention her Bff Michele is getting? Go Away Sara Palin please ... Nobody will miss your eago(: you Bettcha wink wink"....
WHy is this a "surprise" announcement????? If she doesn't do ANYTHING and disappears from the media for 3 months, now, that will be a surprise announcement.
BEHOLD our next President. This is a clear sign that Sarah Palin is going to run and we will have 8 great years of President Sarah Palin. Palin is truly our messiah and savior and she will completely fix all of our economic and fiscal problems. The Palination will have greater surpluses than Clinton with less taxes than Dubya. It will also be the biggest creditor nation on earth. We will have ZERO unemployment as there will be more jobs than there are people to fill them. Palin will bring us to the promised Palin Land!
Please stop reporting on this MORON!!!!!!
The Alaskan DingBat does it again.. And the media does it again.. I don't know which is more pathetic!
OMG! Palin is going to announce she's running for prez! OMG! OMG!......................Oh, that's right...who cares? This is an issue? A story? More like a bad joke. Move on everyone, the wreck was cleared away a long time ago. Nothing to see here.
Who could be a worse president than W and O combined? You betcha.
Flatten the bus tires and send this "has been" back to Alaska.
I can imagine it now. It's a sunny day and crowds of people are standing around getting more and more excited as the clock ticks closer to the hour they have all been waiting for, when "she" will appear. On the horizon a small dot hurdles towards main street with decisive force, becoming bigger by the second. The crowd is now in a frenzy of anticipation and they fall silent, the hush that decends rivals that heard only at the most solumn of cathedrals. Wait, there is a sound from the bus, what could it be? is it the Voice of the Tea Party pontificating on a brillant thought? The rulers of other nations beseeching Sarah to solve all their problems? And then, over the crowd comes what they have all flocked together to hear, the sound of voices raised in joyful song "The wheels on the bus go round and round" !