Palin Presence Steers Rivals Away From Republican Casting Call
By John McCormick
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Sarah Palin, whose celebrity has the power to steer the spotlight from other Republican presidential hopefuls, is set to retake her party’s stage today as she considers a White House bid.
The former 2008 vice-presidential candidate is the marquee speaker at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, an event unofficially billed as the first cattle call for those aspiring to take on President Barack Obama in 2012.
Republicans heard from all the serious presidential contenders at this point in the election cycle four years ago. This time, three of the potential top candidates have sent regrets: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
“The press has a seemingly insatiable appetite for all things Sarah, and at some point Republicans who want to fill the space at the head of our table need to overcome that appetite,” said Tucker Eskew, who advised former President George W. Bush and worked as a Palin counselor in 2008. “She is certainly a huge draw, and that shouldn’t be a fundamental driver for big strategic decisions. But on occasion it will drive some scheduling decisions.”
The gathering of more than 3,000 Republican activists comes as Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele deals with the fallout from revelations that his organization spent almost $2,000 at a sex-themed California nightclub. Steele, who is trying to guide his party to gains in November’s midterm elections, is scheduled to speak tomorrow.
Romney Book Tour
Romney has traveled in recent weeks to early-caucus and primary states as part of a national book tour. Huckabee, who is busy with his network show on News Corp.-owned Fox News, also has visited those states for fundraising and political events, as has Pawlenty.
The Minnesota governor, who is sending a video to New Orleans to be played in his absence, can’t attend because he wanted to welcome home Minnesota National Guard units returning from Iraq, said Alex Conant, a spokesman. Pawlenty appeared April 7 in Minneapolis at a rally featuring Palin and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.
“I’m disappointed they aren’t here,” said Kathi Creed, 61, a convention attendee and county Republican chairman from Niles, Ohio. “We hear Sarah a lot, but we wanted to hear the others.”
Four years ago, roughly 2,000 activists gathered in Memphis and listened to the eventual Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona. They also heard and met with Romney, Huckabee and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.
Reagan Precedent
Every Republican presidential nominee has spoken at the conference since it began in 1984 with an appearance by President Ronald Reagan, said Kirstin Hopkins, the conference’s deputy director.
While the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina made New Orleans a political scab for Bush, Hopkins said the city was selected in part because local Republicans want to show off its recovery.
The absence of Pawlenty and Romney could be viewed as disrespectful by some Republicans from southern states, Eskew said. Both spoke at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
“The South will again play a critical role,” Eskew said. “There are both potential candidates from the South and candidates who need to know their way around the South who will either be in New Orleans or have representatives there.”
No Hard Feelings
There are no hard feelings over Pawlenty’s absence, Hopkins said.
“The best place for him to be this weekend is welcoming his troops home,” she said. “That’s more important than politics.”
Asked about the others, Hopkins said, “Most of it was scheduling conflicts.”
A more pressing priority than presidential politics for both parties is November’s election, when all 435 House seats, 36 Senate seats and 37 governorships are at stake.
Still, the next presidential campaign season will be in full swing a year from now, with the first primary balloting in early 2012.
Besides Palin, a Fox News contributor and former Alaska governor, other top Republican names scheduled to attend include Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Representative Ron Paul of Texas.
Straw-Poll Test
Attendees at the three-day gathering will vote in a straw poll for their presidential preferences, a result designed to show early organizational advantage.
Palin, 46, has remained coy about her own presidential aspirations while traveling nationwide selling her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.”
“I won’t close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future,” she said in an interview on the “Fox News Sunday” program in February.
A heroine of the leaderless “Tea Party” movement, Palin late last month headlined a rally for the group in Searchlight, Nevada, home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The event kicked off a nationwide bus tour.
A recent poll by the Washington Post showed two-thirds of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, compared with 15 percent of Democrats. Overall, 37 percent of Americans have a positive view of her, according to the poll, taken March 23-26 with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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