The Scuffles Will Come and Then We Nominate a President

When The Huffington Post asked about Sarah Palin at CPAC over the weekend, a Romney supporter gave them the quote they were probably looking for after to speaking to dozens of people there. "'Intelligence versus not-so-intelligent,' was the pitch by Ken Merritt, a Virginia-based Romney supporter." Donald Trump spoke at the conference and said "Ron Paul cannot get elected." The Paul supporters booed. It's going to be a big field for this horse race and there will be some scuffles along the way. The key is going to be who campaigns the best.

All the nonsense and the digs will mean nothing when the field actually announces. Yes, Sarah Palin will be starting with lower numbers than she would have had the media not lied and misrepresented her record. One poll has her down in New Hampshire and another has her up in New Mexico. But, the fact of the matter is after all of that she is a top tier candidate in a field that has no super strong front runner and a lot of candidates who can catch fire. Until the campaigning starts, the poll numbers mean nothing.

If she was able to withstand the media onslaught and be positioned with Romney and Huckabee as part of the front pack, that's pretty darn good for someone who dodged a destructive blow by liberal ankle biters in Alaska and a hostile media both locally and nationally by resigning her governorship.

Some people still don't understand clearly how her resignation empowered her to be in a better position to help Alaska and to help America compared to what would have happened to her and the state of Alaska during the last two years had she stayed in office as government grinded to a halt and her family was personally bankrupted.

The truth of her resignation is explained on Alaskans4Palin.

The truth is that many Alaskans, while disappointed to lose her leadership, continue to support her today. We view her resignation as our Governor as one of the greatest forms of intentional self-sacrifice ever seen in Alaskan politics. To purposefully give up power, for the good of the people, is unheard of in politics today.

Those who use her resignation as part of a greater argument destroy the credibility of their arguments. Take this piece on The Daily Caller which builds up a debatable argument about how Palin's use of big government to advance her views on feminism that can be debated. Then the writer blows it here. "The potential candidate must network, organize, and fundraise like the dickens. And once they get elected, they don’t resign halfway through their term of office."

Playing the "quitter" card ultimately won't work in the long run as people get to see Palin campaigning on a presidential level completely in control of her own organization. What Palin does on the campaign trail will have a lot more impact as it will be fresh, innovative and a showcasing of her ability to campaign and fundraise on a grand scale. Many seem to forget that she was an avid campaigner when she ran for governor beating the sitting Republican governor, Frank Murkowski in the primary before going on to win the general election.

This is the same Sarah Palin that could be running for president. Only she's bigger and more national now. She was introduced to a nation hungry for leadership and they took to her instantly until the media stepped in and tried to destroy that bond. Now, she will be coming back to reestablish that bond directly with the people.

There will be battles between all the camps that we can expect and understand. We know Ron Paul people don't like Donald Trump. We also know that Palin people don't like Mitt Romney. But, ya know what? Let's give everyone a shot at this thing. The best player wins. I may be holding my tongue now. But once the horses are on the entry sheet, I'm ready to go. I wouldn't sweat the polls and the scuffles. If we all respect each other, we will have a fair fight to nominate the next president of the United States.