Palin Back In, O'Donnell Out at Iowa Tea Party Event

(Newser) – Christine O’Donnell may not be a witch, but she's got to be feeling like a yo-yo: After being invited, then uninvited, then re-invited to speak at an Iowa Tea Party event Saturday, the onetime Senate candidate is officially off the roster—and Sarah Palin is back on. Palin had put her appearance “on hold” after O’Donnell’s re-invitation, ominously citing the Tea Party's "continual lying." Apparently, O’Donnell herself contacted the event’s co-organizer when this whole thing started, to say that Palin wanted her to speak. But in actuality, the two had not spoken recently and Palin wasn't happy with the “misrepresentation,” a source tells the Los Angeles Times.

The beleaguered co-organizer, who sounds quite stressed in the interview he gave to the Times, failed to check with Palin before booking O’Donnell, and the rest is history. “I’m a dumb West Texas cowboy,” he says. “None of us have a high-profile political background, nor understand it. We don’t know what protocols are or any of that stuff.” In fact, he didn’t even really know who was actually in Palin’s crew, and spent quite a bit of time planning for Palin based on information from a California attorney who, it turns out, isn't affiliated with her political action committee—more on that amusing turn of events in the Times. Meanwhile, MSNBC confirms that O’Donnell was canceled in order to get Palin back on board for the event.