Palin to Iowa, Maybe

Palin, Palin, Palin: Is Sarah Palin news? I'm not trying to be a smart a$% here. I'm being serious. We have been speculating for months, actually years now, whether she will run for president. She might be building a house in Arizona. A presidential launching palace? The national media are all over this bus tour she has begun this week. As per usual, there is little to no access for reporters to Palin, outside of Fox, of course, the source of one of her paychecks.

Pawlenty, Paul, Cain, Gingrich, Johnson have all announced they were running for president. Santorum, Bachmann and Romney will likely add their names to the list in the next few weeks, as well. Huntsman and Perry might, too. So where is Palin in all of this? Good question. Fox took Gingrich and Santorum off the air as contributors because of their interest in running for president. Yet, Palin remains on the air, despite this latest bus tour. Palin told CNN Monday that her bus tour might come to Iowa "at some point". And let's not forget the Palin movie coming to the state next month.

If she comes, then, I guess we should cover her. And I'm not saying she is not newsworthy at all. After all, she was the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee. But all of this breathless national coverage, though, on her every move, tweet and Facebook post? It all just seems to be a bit much. We have plenty of other declared and nearly-declared candidates on the Republican side. We need to start vetting them. What do they believe? What are their ideas? How will they solve the country's problems? Are they more than just red-meat soundbites? And, of course, I'm not forgetting the president. Since it doesn't appear he will have a Democratic primary opponent, then that changed pre-primary coverage. But we still need to know what he will do in the future. What about the debt? Unemployment? Declining schools? Entitlement programs?

What would Palin do if we quit covering her. For now. If even Fox doesn't think she is serious enough yet for a presidential run (since she is still a paid contributor on the air for the network), then why should we?

Palin Returns to Iowa

Palin Palooza: She's b-a-a-c-k. Sarah Palin has another book. She has another trip to Iowa. She is hitting Borders and Wal-Mart during her return trip to West Des Moines and Spirit Lake, respectively, according to the details from the Politico. This will be the second book tour stop in Iowa in less than a year. She came to Sioux City last December. Palin, who used to be the media (I guess she is now, too, since she works for Fox News), refused to talk to the media during her previous stop. She also didn't set aside time with reporters when she headlined the Republican Party of Iowa's Ronald Reagan Dinner in September. So...will she talk this time, so Iowans can hear how she answers the issues before them? Or will she just come to town, sell some books, sign some autographs, let the media talk about whether she will run for president and then leave town again?

Shane Vander Hart has more of the particulars on his Caffeinated Thoughts blog. According to the posting, Palin will only sign her book and no one can bring in recording devices.

Roll Call also has a story about how the FEC is questioning how Palin's political action committee spent money.