Sarah Palin: What's she going to do with her $1 million war chest?
| Washington
Lots of people don鈥檛 like Sarah Palin. You see that in . About 53 percent of US voters have an unfavorable view of the Queen of the Momma Grizzlies, according to a Pollster.com average of major surveys. In contrast, only about 33 percent of voters think poorly of Mitt Romney, a possible rival for the GOP 2012 presidential nomination.
But c鈥檓on haters, give her this: Palin is a continuing economic phenomenon. A one-woman recovery package. An empire of fiscal investments geared to yield maximum political returns.
As evidence, look at the latest report of her political action committee. SarahPAC has donated at least $87.500 to candidates Palin has endorsed in recent months. This includes a $2,500 donation to the campaign of Carly Fiorina, the ex-Hewlett Packard CEO now running for Barbara Boxer鈥檚 Senate seat. (Does this mean Palin helped pay for Fiorina鈥檚 demon sheep ad?) She鈥檚 also sent $2,500 to Sharron Angle, the "tea party" favorite who鈥檚 trying to dethrone Senate majority leader Harry Reid in Nevada.
But the outflow is not the news in the SarahPAC report. That would be the inflow. Sarah Palin鈥檚 political action arm raised more than $865,000 in recent months, and now has more than $1 million on hand to give to favored candidates in the run-up to the fall midterm elections. That鈥檚 quite a cash cushion. And in politics, donations 鈥� especially donations made as a vote nears 鈥� are favors that can produce return favors, with interest, in years to come.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to really help a lot of Republican candidates get a chance to win,鈥� said SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford.
Plus, Palin continues to exercise control over her brand. Like Oprah, she鈥檚 spreading herself across a number of media platforms, each controlled by her. There are the speeches, which cost $100,000 if you鈥檙e paying the full price. There is the Discovery Channel nature series about Alaska, with her as host. There is the 鈥淢ama Grizzly鈥� YouTube video, which promotes Palin-style feminism on YouTube. And there鈥檚 the Palin biography for tweens.
OK, so Palin herself doesn鈥檛 control that one. If you haven鈥檛 heard, the 海角大神 publisher Zondervan is planning to issue in September a life of Sarah Palin aimed at 9- to 12-year olds. It鈥檚 reportedly based on Palin鈥檚 own bestselling 鈥淕oing Rogue鈥�, so it鈥檚 likely to be, you know, fairly positive. And this year鈥檚 12-year olds will be able to vote in the 2016 presidential elections.
Does all this mean Palin is planning on running for president? We don鈥檛 know. But here鈥檚 an idea: sometime next year, she should wrangle an hour on Fox. She gets to sell most of the ads, with proceeds going to her PAC. And the hook is she will use this hour-long special to announce whether she will be a candidate for the GOP nomination, or not.
She could call it 鈥淭he Political Decision鈥�. Maybe LeBron James will make a cameo.
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