Palin’s campaign/book tour

Sarah Palin’s book tour has many of the hallmarks of an early-stage presidential campaign: a branded tour bus, first-leg stops in 11 swing states, and high-profile TV interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters. There's even intrigue and infighting, after the AP leaked dirty-laundry excerpts about the tensions she had with 2008 ticketmate John McCain and his staff. Is Palin hitting the road to promote her book or her political aspirations? (Watch an MSNBC panel talk about "Palin-palooza")

It sure looks like a first step toward 2012: A visit to Iowa? Two to three stops a day in battleground states on a Palin-“emblazoned” tour bus? asks Norah O’Donnell at MSNBC’s First Read. The “feisty” ex-governor and her publisher say they’re just aiming to hit as much of America as possible, focusing on places not on most book tours. But “the imagery and pace of her travel is almost certain to evoke images of an early presidential campaign foray.”

“Palin tour takes page from campaign”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This is Palin’s big shot at political rehab: The “Going Rogue” tour is clearly about Sarah Palin’s “future in American politics—and a possible run for the White House in 2012,” says Matthew Continetti in The Wall Street Journal, and she has to nail it. She’ll never win over Democrats, but if she can reintroduce herself to independents as a serious “bipartisan, center-right” pragmatist, “they could be serving moose burgers in the White House in 2013.”

“Can Sarah Palin make a comeback?”

First she has to get beyond the mistakes of 2008: Palin’s book rollout looks like a presidential campaign, but not for 2012, say Jason Horowitz and Michael Shear in The Washington Post. The juicy leaked AP tidbits “trumped the more calibrated cyber-teasers” of the official "soft launch,” giving the “Going Rogue” rollout “all the orchestrated stagecraft, wild accusations, inconvenient leaks, and media fascination” of McCain-Palin 2008.

“Leaks launch Palin’s ‘Going Rogue’ with that ol’ campaign fervor”

“Rogue” is about money, not politics: Actually, “most of the smart money is betting that Palin won’t be a contender for 2012,” says Mark Halperin in Time, but that may not bother Palin. “For now, she’s all about polishing her brand for its purchasing—not its political—power.” And no matter what you think about Palin, she “is going to sell a ton of books.”

“The Rogue returns: On the road with Sarah Palin”

..................................................................

FOR MORE OF THE WEEK'S COVERAGE OF SARAH PALIN

• Sarah Palin's "whiny" book: Painful revelations or lies?

• Sarah Palin's coin controversy

• Sarah Palin vs. Levi Johnston