Scott Conroy of RealClearPolitics reports that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will visit Iowa as part of her “One Nation” bus tour which is a test run for a potential presidential campaign:
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will travel to Iowa next month as part of her nationwide bus tour, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan told RealClearPolitics.
Palin’s trip to the nation’s first voting state — where she has not yet set foot this year –will further escalate the already feverish speculation that she is leaning toward a White House run.
Though Palin has insisted that her "One Nation" bus tour — being kicked off from Washington over the holiday weekend — is intended merely to "highlight America’s foundation," RCP has learned that the road trip was designed as a test run to find out whether she can execute a decidedly unconventional campaign game plan.
Palin — and especially her husband, Todd — is said to be leaning toward running. But multiple sources said that their foremost remaining concern was whether it would be logistically feasible for their large family to hit the road together for the next several months in a prospective campaign that would rely heavily on bus travel.
Palin confirmed to CNN that she will be coming to the Hawkeye State.
Sarah Palin told CNN on Monday that she plans to take her "One Nation" bus tour to Iowa, the state that votes first in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
"I’m sure at some point I will be going to Iowa," Palin said during a visit to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. "At some point."
The comments come on the heels of a RealClearPolitics story that said Palin is planning a visit to Iowa in June, the same month a documentary about her rise to power is set to debut in the Hawkeye State.The trip would be Palin’s first visit to Iowa since December, when she stopped there during a book tour. She also addressed a fund-raising dinner for the Iowa Republican Party last September….
…Asked about her 2012 thinking, Palin said her family’s concerns come first. But she also said the unsettled nature of the Republican presidential field has left the door open for other candidates, herself included, to join the nomination fight.
"It’s going to be a changed-up field between now and when deadlines finally arrive for declaring," Palin told CNN.
There has been no word as to where the Palin documentary, The Undefeated, will premiere in Iowa. Her bus tour will take them to historical sites and patriotic events. A couple of guesses as to where that might take them in Iowa… Western Iowa has several landmarks dedicated to Lewis & Clark’s famous expedition, as well as spots, as well as it’s proximity to the beginning of the Oregon and California trails. Perhaps they could visit a former stop on the Underground Railroad. Who knows? So far there has been no public itinerary.
HT: Josh Painter
