GOP Dinner Dumps Palin for Dithering

She stoops to conquer as Gingrich gets top billing at dinner

(AP) - Sarah Palin appeared at a Republican fundraiser in Washington last night, ending a will-she-or-won't-she mystery that overshadowed the event and frustrated the GOP, AP reports. Palin, who was initially slated to headline the annual Senate-House dinner, left organizers hanging as late as yesterday afternoon after she was told she wouldn't have a speaking role at the event. More»

Opts for Gingrich to give speech at fundraiser

(NEWSER) - After twice inviting Sarah Palin to speak at its fundraiser tonight, the GOP's congressional wing has again withdrawn its offer, Politico reports. The confusion began months ago when the National Republican Congressional and Senatorial Committees announced the Alaska governor as the event's headliner. Palin didn't commit, so organizers picked Newt Gingrich instead. Last week Palin was re-invited, only to be dropped over fears that Gingrich may feel slighted. More»

Ex-governors, ex-speaker in statistical dead heat

(NEWSER) - Believe it or not, Sarah Palin is not the preferred 2012 presidential nominee of most Tea Partiers. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich actually rated higher than the former Alaska governor among members of the fiscally conservative group in a recent CNN poll . Support for the three would-be candidates clustered within the poll's 7-point margin of error, meaning they are statistically tied. More»

Current Republican field riddled with weak spots

(NEWSER) - Republicans talk a good game about challenging President Obama in 2012, but the GOP would look scarier if it had even one legitimate challenger , says Dick Polman. "Obama's job-approval numbers are tepid these days—but he looks robust when matched against actual Republican challengers," warns the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. "Not to mention the inevitable wounds and scars that any Republican will suffer during a primary season that promises to be downright Darwinian." More»

(NEWSER) - Republican sycophants may think Sarah Palin’s resignation was brilliant, “but don’t kid yourself,” writes Robert Eisinger in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The GOP is in trouble.” The party has lost its intellectual coherence, and if it wants it back, it’s got to look beyond the Palins and Mark Sanfords of the world: “The problem with these Republicans is that they have drunk the proletariat punch.” More»