Nearly three weeks after what her supporters had hoped would be a Labor Day kickoff to her campaign, Sarah Palin says she’s still considering running for president. “There is still time,” the former Alaska governor told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday night. “And I think on both sides of the aisle I think you’re going to see people coming and going from the race.”
With no formal Palin organization in any state, political insiders have for months doubted that Palin could quickly assemble a top-tier campaign. But Palin made clear on Tuesday that she does not believe she needs an old-style campaign based on county chairmen, finance committees, endorsements, and months of hand-shaking. “This is going to be such an unconventional election cycle,” she told Hannity. “Mark my word, it is going to be an unconventional type of election process.”
Palin has until November to qualify for inclusion on the ballot in early states.
Palin is not the only one talking about the possibility of new candidates entering the Republican race. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who for months has said he will not run, is thought to be reconsidering the idea. Last Sunday, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot said on Fox News that Christie is rethinking his position. “There are enough people who have gone to him now and said, ‘Look, this field is weak, and none of them may be able to beat the president…Now is your moment,'” Gigot said. Christie has not made any public statement on the latest speculation.
Palin’s strategy, whatever it is, has already confounded the predictions of political experts. In late August, former Bush adviser Karl Rove predicted Palin would declare her candidacy around a September 3 Tea Party rally in Indianola, Iowa. “This is her last chance,” Rove told Fox News. “She either gets in or gets out [after the Iowa visit]. I think she gets in.”
She didn’t get in, and now, as late September arrives, she still isn’t in. To some Republican insiders, Palin has missed her chance. “She could pick up a lot of support going in, but I think it is too late,” former Palin adviser Fred Malek told ABC News this month. “I think the field is set.”
Palin’s conversation with Hannity Tuesday night made clear she does not believe the field is set. And her “unconventional election cycle” remark to Hannity Tuesday night confirms that, if she does choose to run, she will run a non-traditional campaign. The question is whether that could work. Back in May, Rove told Fox News’ Greta van Susteren, “I don’t think she thinks the rules apply to her. She doesn’t need to have the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign. No finance committee, she can raise the money. She doesn’t need to go and shake a lot of hands in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.”
Rove was clearly skeptical of Palin’s “unconventional” approach. But, at least as far as 2012 is concerned, Palin has bet everything on it. At this point, she’ll either attempt a strikingly unconventional race, or she won’t run at all.
