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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Welcome Sarah,
It's about time you joined this party! It will be refreshing to hear the truth for a change instead of politically massaged rhetoric. We are a capitalist nation. We earn our way instead of milking the system. Obama Nation is all about breaking the bank in order to tear this nation down. The solution is obvious... Stop spending. It is out of control and we have to stop this runaway train. Sarah will speak common sense for a change.
Palin is making a mockery of democracy by playing pretend, all for the purprpose of amassing the almighty $$$$$$$
Can we say American Demcracy has become the place for Hustlers!!!
Palin is not qualified to be a gas attendant let alone the President of the USA
Palin, thustly demenstraiting the difference between the rules for those who have stated that they are running for a public office and those who wish to dodge all the improper spending rules that they got pegged with before and try and run a campaign without actually stateing so.
This has to be the greatest story of the week. Far more important than starving children.
For those of you who haven't figured it out, she is not a serious candidate. She is a greedy opportunist. She is only concerned with staying in the spotlight and making as much money as she can while the lights on. Can't wait for her to go away.
It is a pre-view for new future movie titled Fantasy American President
Officially makes this a 3 ring circus
What a waste of time. Is she the only person unaware that she isn't going to be president?
Someone who cares about this woman should stop her before she hurts herself. I mean, this was fun in the way that shooting birds with a bee-bee gun when you were twelve was; but then you grew up! It's time for Sarah to grow up, go home, and let the big kids do their thing.
Could the republicans make it ANY easier to re-elect Obama in 2012? The word, 'Palin' is synonymous with the word, 'joke' in America right now. And the governor of Texas is a bigger joke than she is. Have fun flushing conservative money down the drain by trying to elect either of these two. That's OK though! The Koch Brothers can just send over a few more Billion to keep their 'grassroots' truck moving forward!
Heck, she couldn't even cope with being gov of a state with a smaller population then Dayton,OH...
How can anyone honestly believe that she's Oval Office material? It's absurd.
The last thing this country needs right now is a woman who would resign the presidency because it became too much like work....
She's giving gadflies a bad name.
Palin has made a mockery out of CNN and she is enjoying every moment of it or vice versa. Either way it is PATHETIC.
This is going to be fun.
I see OFA has added to the number of obots assigned to attack any mention of Palin.
Or they are just multiplying the number of names and accounts.
They have to post multiple times and make it look like there are more of them than there are in reality.
For every obot post there is one person behind them. Often, only a third of a person with multiple names.
For every pro-Palin post....there are thousands behind them.
And why is CNN covering Palin anyway? I thought they were the Obama channel. All Obama, all the time, right?
Not to worry. Go back to telling us how well Obama is doing.
If she is not officially running for any office, why does she still get donations? What are all these donations used for? I think the only thing she is running for is to grease her pockets with all the money her idiot followers give her.
Seriously?! I can't believe that in the current state that this country is in, Sarah Palin is even a relevant topic anymore. She abandoned the only "political experience" she could even tack on to her resume, and the fact that 20,000 is spent to carry her around to spread her ignorance is offensive. 20,000 would put one single mother or father who's been laid off, back to work, feed about 7000 of those 600,000 starving kinds in Somalia... When will the revolution finally begin!
Snooki Palin had to make a move when Bachmann made the cover of Newsweek. Since her movie tanked bigtime,Snookie Palin REALLYwants Bachmann's money and media attention. Notice that she rolls in AFTER the debate but along with Perry to upstage him and get the carnival barker chasers to run after her. CNN and CSPAN will be first in line.
It must be County Fair Time in Iowa.
Palin is only working the media for everything she can get. She can only hurt the GOP by entering the race, so she'll play the "will she, won't she" game as long as she can keep the money rolling in. Once she announces she WON'T run, the public/media will lose their fascination with her and what will she do then?
Chill !
This isn't going to happen. And the reason has nothing to do with whether People do or don't support her. Sarah can't keep a schedule; she can't keep to anything. IF she were to run, she would likely miss more planned events than she would make. She is organizationally ADD, and couldn't possibly run a national campaign. If you don't believe it just read Frank Bailey's book.
Frank Bailey’s Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years
I'd like to buy her for what she's worth and sell her for what she thinks she's worth. Why won't this airbag go away????
What surprises me is that the lame stream media thinks that we are surprised about anything she does or doesn't do or shrieks!
WE DON'T CARE. It's the end of Summer. She has to finish that vacation that she had to quit because nobody but the lame stream media was interested. All the clowns wilil be in Iowa. She just wants to see how much of the "adoration" she can take away from them.
Does anybody really care about this broad any more?
so what is this a diversion?