Outside DC, Palin's Still a Star

GOP frontrunner defends rival on Twitter

(NEWSER) - Time quoted anonymous advisers to Mitt Romney dissing Sarah Palin in this article yesterday, and today Romney himself came to her defense. On Twitter , no less: "TIME says unnamed advisors disparaged @SarahPalinUSA. Anonymous numbskulls. She's proven her smarts; they've disproven theirs." 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»

Sarah Palin is good for business, but beware inflating presidential prospects

(NEWSER) - That Sarah Palin drives up TV ratings and online traffic is clear, but listen up, mainstream media—that doesn’t mean she’s the next big thing in Republican politics. Just look at the polls , Jim Vandehei and Jonathan Martin write for Politco . They say they “know we’re part of the problem—and we’ll surely continue to run stories about Palin.” But take it with a grain of salt: She's good copy. More»

Not one party leader sees her as the 2012 candidate

(NEWSER) - In a new survey of 109 Republican movers and shakers, not one named Sarah Palin as the likely presidential nominee in 2012. This is fabulous news for her, writes Nate Silver. After all, "2010/12 is "shaping up to be an anti-establishment cycle," he writes, and if the powers that be thumb their noses at Palin, that only helps her already "decent" chances to win the nomination. In short, she just doesn't need the establishment. More»

Leave Alaska, grab a good staff, and be yourself

(NEWSER) - Don’t write off Sarah Palin as the 2012 Republican nominee: Roger Simon says she’s got what it takes to get there, with a little fine-tuning. He offers her seven steps in Politico:

• Leave Alaska behind. Don’t run for governor in 2010; instead, hang out in the Lower 48.
• Gather a staff smarter than you are. People might laugh, but they laughed at Bush and Schwarzenegger—and they both won.