Sarah Palin bus tour: What's the point?
Sarah Palin has been spotted: She and her 鈥淥ne Nation鈥� bus tour stopped at the site of the Civil War鈥檚 pivotal Battle of Gettysburg on Tuesday morning. We know this because her Sarah PAC website now has a gazing over Gettysburg鈥檚 historic Pennsylvania meadows. It must have been early in the morning, because she doesn鈥檛 look hot. As Ms. Palin discovered yesterday at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, temperatures in the mid-Atlantic have been hitting 95 degrees by midafternoon.
Where鈥檚 she going next? We鈥檙e not really sure. She鈥檚 not releasing a schedule or telling the "lamestream" press much of anything. But Philadelphia is a likely stop, to see the Liberty Bell and perhaps Independence Hall.
If Palin is not courting press coverage, and doesn鈥檛 even say where she鈥檚 bound, what鈥檚 the point of this bus tour, anyway? It鈥檚 a slightly odd way to kick off a presidential campaign, if that is what she鈥檚 doing. But Palin, for all her 鈥淕oing Rogue鈥� image, has some pretty blue-chip advisers, so we鈥檙e betting some thought has gone into the bus-tour concept.
Here are some reasons it鈥檚 a type of almost-campaigning that could play to her advantage.
She controls the message. If there were reporters at every stop, they would ask questions 鈥� and file stories based on answers. This coverage might or might not focus on what Palin wants to convey. But by showing up at historic sites just like any other visitor, Palin controls the imagery of the day. Look at the Sarah PAC bus tour page 鈥� it鈥檚 nothing but Palin and symbols of US greatness, pictured side by side: Palin signing Mount Vernon鈥檚 guestbook. Palin reading the Constitution. And so on. Those images are perhaps Palin鈥檚 message 鈥� she 鈥檚 the maybe-candidate most conversant with the nation鈥檚 heritage.
The stops appeal to her voters. You鈥檒l notice that Palin isn鈥檛 stopping at factories to promote the strength of the American economy. Her bus is pulling up to national parks and other places connected with the US past. Perhaps that is because history reminds us of the moral choices made at times of struggle by those who shaped our nation. That鈥檚 the sort of thing that her core voters are interested in.
According to a new , Sarah Palin is the first choice for president among Republican voters who say the most important issues facing the nation are social issues and moral values. She wins a plurality of 23 percent among such voters; Mitt Romney is second, at 18 percent.
Mr. Romney, on the other hand, leads among voters who have economic concerns. (That鈥檚 why he spends a lot of time campaigning in factories.) He鈥檚 the first pick of GOP adherents who say government spending is the nation鈥檚 biggest problem, and of those who say the overall economy should be the top US priority. Palin lags behind among these voters.
So by examining the crack in the Liberty Bell Palin may be engaging in a basic rule of politics: First, solidify your standing among your base, then expand.
Bus touring might soften her image. Palin is a polarizing political figure, with adherents who love her and critics who love to dislike her. This is true to a certain extent even among GOP voters. Her unfavorable rating among Republicans is about 30 percent, noted New York Times polling expert Nate Silver earlier this spring. That鈥檚 a pretty high figure for a politician鈥檚 own party.
If she runs for president, she will have to do something to win over some people who now are set against her. Her bus tour, seen in that context, is noncontroversial campaigning. She鈥檚 not making inflammatory remarks. It鈥檚 just Palin and her family, on the road together in a giant RV, going where the road takes them.
