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Palin backs away from Iowa speech
A highly anticipated speech by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) scheduled this weekend in Iowa is now "on hold" — an ad hoc scheduling change symptomatic of Palin's maneuvering.
Confusion abounded Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Palin's team had withdrawn from her appearance at a Tea Party of America rally Saturday in Indianola, Iowa.
Still, the uncertainty about Palin's appearance underscores the will-she-or-won't-she approach that's beset her entire potential candidacy for president.
Palin's planned Indianola speech had been closely watched for signs about whether she will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012; while the former Alaska governor has said she's unlikely to declare her intentions Saturday, she's self-imposed a deadline of announcing whether she would run by the end of September.
An ad hoc approach to appearances has become a hallmark of Palin's political operation. She announced late Tuesday, for instance, that she would attend a Tea Party rally on Labor Day in New Hampshire — this after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said earlier in the day that he would attend a similar rally over the weekend.
Palin has also shown a penchant for upsetting the plans of other GOP presidential contenders: she showed up at the Iowa State Fair during the weekend of the Ames Straw Poll, and her heavily publicized bus tour rolled into New Hampshire the same day Romney was formally announcing his candidacy.
Saturday's event, hosted by Tea Party of America, has been marked by drama thus far. The group had invited former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (R), whom Palin had endorsed, to speak at the event. It had originally been reported that O'Donnell would speak before Palin, before the group dropped O'Donnell from the docket. The former Senate candidate tweeted Wednesday that she had been reinvited.
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