Palin: Is she running, or just protecting her brand?

“Is Sarah Palin sightseeing or campaigning?” asked Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times. After months of dropping coy hints about her presidential ambitions, Palin roared into Washington, D.C., this week on the back of a Harley-Davidson, then loaded her family into a luxury bus and set off on a “One Nation’’ tour of America. In typical “mavericky” fashion, Palin has refused to reveal the itinerary of “her (wink wink) non-campaign tour,” said The Baltimore Sun in an editorial, or to say more than that she is “contemplating” a run for the White House. But already she’s made stops at such tellingly historic locations as Gettysburg, Fort McHenry, and the Statue of Liberty, and has hinted she’ll conclude her trip in the first primary state, New Hampshire. “Just when you thought the Republican presidential field was getting set, up pops the most mischievous force in American politics.”

Poor Mitt Romney, said John Dickerson in Slate.com. With a host of possible contenders having dropped out, the former Massachusetts governor—who currently leads Republican polls—hoped for more time in the spotlight. So did his chief rivals, former Govs. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah. But in addition to her “One Nation” bus tour, Palin has also announced the imminent release of an authorized documentary, The Undefeated, that provides a flattering account of her tenure as Alaska’s governor. It sure looks “as if her ultimate destination may be the White House.” Why wouldn’t Sarah Palin run? said Peter Beinart in TheDailyBeast.com. Although the Republican intelligentsia has decided she’s unelectable, she has more passionate support than any other candidate in the lackluster GOP field. In politics, the passionate base sometimes trumps the pragmatic center, which is how Barry Goldwater and George McGovern got nominated. “Could that happen again in 2012? If I were Sarah Palin, I’d want to find out.”

“Palin isn’t thinking about running for president,” said Robert R. Hoopes Jr. in HuffingtonPost.com. If she were, she’d be pressing the flesh in Iowa and South Carolina, instead of driving up the Eastern Seaboard in a bus. No, it is far, far more likely that Palin, just like Donald Trump before her, is pretending to run for president as a way of selling more books, boosting ratings for her various TV ventures, and generally keeping the cash registers humming at “Sarah Palin Inc.” “This is about Palin protecting her brand as the Republican field comes into focus,” said Jonathan Capehart in WashingtonPost.com. With media attention starting to shift to the GOP’s other candidates—most notably Michele Bachmann, who threatens to replace Sarah Palin as the Tea Party’s favorite Mama Grizzly—Palin was starting to feel neglected. Hence, her “magical mystery ‘One Nation’ bus tour.”

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“The answer may well be both,” said Shushannah Walshe in TheDailyBeast.com. The primary purpose of Palin’s bus tour may be to get her back in the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also “intended as a way to test the presidential waters.” Palin may have boarded the bus “intending to pull a Trump,” said Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post, but it’s entirely possible she’ll change her mind by the time the trip is over. Adoring crowds of “real Americans” can have that effect on politicians. That may be the real danger here, for the other Republican candidates, and—dare I say—for all of us. “If she keeps pretending to run for the presidential nomination, people might take her seriously.”