Tales from the Trail

A leaked e-mail is providing more grist for speculation that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is seriously pondering a run for president in 2012.

In the e-mail, Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, complained to Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller and Tim Crawford, treasurer for Palin’s SarahPAC political organization, after Miller declined to endorse the possibility of a Palin presidential candidacy.

Sarah Palin had endorsed Miller in his successful Senate Republican nomination fight against incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, and it is clear from the e-mail that Todd Palin expected some loyalty in return.

Miller, asked on Fox News Sunday in September whether Palin was qualified to be president, was non-committal, saying, “I am not going to get distracted by other candidates.”

The Todd Palin e-mail was leaked to themudflats.net, an Alaska website that reports on Palin and other political figures in the state. 

Is 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin  laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential run?

Some experts reading the tea leaves, or pages from her fundraising reports, think the answer may lie in the numbers.

The former Alaska governor’s political action committee, Sarah PAC, tells the Federal Election Commission it raised more than $865,000 in the last quarter. About half the money came from small donors, people who gave $200 or less.

The 2012 presidential campaign is not on her radar screen, says 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  But she didn’t exactly shut the door on the the possibility of making a run for the White House during her first interview to promote her book, “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

Palin told TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey that right now it’s all about the 2010 elections.

“I’m concentrating on 2010 and making sure that we have issues to tackle,” Palin said in the interview taped last week and broadcast Monday. “I don’t know what I’m going to be doing in 2012. (Running for president is) not on my radar screen right now.”