The Republican firebrand's trip to Iowa this week is the biggest indication yet that she is seriously considering a run for the 2012 presidency. Caitriona Palmer reports from Washington
To the casual observer, last night's scheduled dinner at the Hy-Vee convention hall in Des Moines, Iowa, was set to be just another Republican Party fundraiser in the months before the critical mid-term elections.But to the politically astute, the planned $100-a-head event at the sprawling downtown complex signalled something far more historical: the official start of the 2012 presidential campaign for one of America's most controversial figures -- former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
The headline appearance at the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Ronald Reagan dinner is the clearest indication yet that she is considering a run against Barack Obama for the 2012 presidency.
Up until now, the former vice-presidential candidate has played down speculation about her White House ambitions, instead devoting time to helping other Republicans snatch coveted seats away from the Democrats in November's elections.
But her high-profile appearance in Iowa -- the small but powerful state that traditionally kicks off the presidential race -- combined with her impressive fundraising and prestigious endorsements, is creating a furore in political circles across the country and strongly ramping up her national presence.
"While I'm not even sure Sarah Palin knows whether she's going to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, she's certainly acting like it," said Matthew Continetti, opinion editor of the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard.
To run for the presidency, one local Republican official told the Chicago Tribune, "she needs to be here -- and she's doing that with a big, high-profile event."
The woman that most Democrats -- not to mention a large portion of the Republican establishment -- love to hate, Palin has been derided as an unsophisticated, gun-toting, hillbilly with lousy geography and a poor grasp of domestic and foreign issues.
Within the Republican Party, experts say, leaders worry that she is too partisan, too unpredictable and too undisciplined to make it to the White House.
But despite the endless moose jokes, the Tina Fey impersonations on late-night TV and the countless political obituaries, Sarah Palin has steadfastly refused to go away.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/have-we-misunderestimated-sarah-palin-2342877.html