Rogue is a Good Name for it.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 10:13
Krusty Konservative
1,297 views
11 comments

Sarah Palin is actually headed to Iowa. Palin will be in Sioux City on December 6th at the Barnes and Noble book store to promote her new book Going Rogue.

Palin’s Iowa stop will garner a ton of attention, but she will not have the type of impact that she would have had if she combined the book signing stop with an actual political event. Palin also has some stiff competition when it comes to selling books in Iowa. Mike Huckabee was just in the state selling his Christmas book. It’s the second time he has come to the state that launched his presidential campaign to sell a new book. It’s been a good strategy, at one stop more than a thousand people waited in line to meet the author, Fox News personality, and potential presidential candidate.

Huckabee does a good job of getting people’s information when he comes to town. Last year, Huckabee had a kiosk where people could sign up for the chance to win some hideous Team Huck coat. The contest allowed his to collect peoples name, address, and email address. It will be interesting to see if Palin knows to collect this information.

Palin’s decision to come to Iowa and sell her book is a no-brainer. What’s sad is that she could have done so much more. I’m not going to pretend to know what is going on in her head, but she needs a political advisor who can maximize the impact she can have when traveling to certain states. I know that some don’t think she’s actually going to run for president, but even if she never wants to run for office again, a savvy political advisor would also help her sell more books.

I think it’s safe to say that Palin could have sold 5,000 to 10,000 books had she attended the Iowa Family Policy Center event. Heck, IFPC could have built in the price of the book for every ticket sold, so everyone who attended walked away with a book. The possibilities were endless, but Palin didn’t grab the opportunity.

Palin’s visit to Iowa will just be a well covered blip on the news. The cameras will show her signing books and interacting with people. The lines will be full of excited people waiting to see her. Politically however, it will be a missed opportunity. Her visit will not endear her with the supporters of any Iowa political organization or activist. It’s doubtful that she will harvest the names of the people who came to see her. Instead, she’s just coming to the state for a photo-op which will be no different than any of her other book signing event.

For a potential presidential candidate Iowa should be handled with special care and attention. This is the one state that someone like Palin can come to and make national news. Just look at the media coverage from Tim Pawlenty’s visit. Going Rogue might be a good name for a book, but it’s not a good tactic if you are thinking about running for president.

Tags: Palin

About the Author

Krusty Konservative has written 284 stories on this site.

Herschel Krustofski is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Krusty Konservative, a blog which focuses on Iowa Politics. Created in February of 2006, Krusty Konservative is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Iowa blogosphere. Since its conception, Krusty Konservative has never shied from tackling controversial issues, and providing insight to the inner workings of Republican politics in Iowa.

11 Comments on “Rogue is a Good Name for it.”

Peggy wrote on 10 November, 2009, 10:22
Spell check, Krusty! It’s rogue, not rouge.
Stacia wrote on 10 November, 2009, 10:26
I don’t understand why she is going to be in Souix City, Iowa. I know Souix City is the largest city in heavy Republican Western Iowa; however, you would get more exposure and more people if you went to Des Moines or heck, even Cedar Rapids.
Conservative Demo wrote on 10 November, 2009, 10:33
Stacia, as a purely business decision Sioux City might be better than a large(er) city in Central or Eastern Iowa because of the likelyhood they’d sell more books out there than in DM, CR, or Dav.
robpo wrote on 10 November, 2009, 15:34
Her next book will be: Going Rug An American Lesbian

I tease because I love. I want to love Sarah. I know she would like me.
Shane Vander Hart wrote on 10 November, 2009, 19:49
The tour dates aren’t complete yet. She could still be coming elsewhere in the state, I’d love to see her come to Des Moines as well.

Krusty – have you heard of contractual obligations? She couldn’t fit it into her schedule. It would have been great, but it just doesn’t work out when you are already scheduled to be in Pennsylvania and New York that day. The same day she’s in Sioux City she’ll also be up in Sioux Falls.
HawkCR1 wrote on 11 November, 2009, 1:28
Shane..

Krusty is absolutely correct his point. Palin is missing a HUGE opportunity to make a massive statement in Iowa if she had done the IFPC dinner. The events in PA and NY could have easily been rescheduled.

If she wants to be in the mix for 2012…attending the IFPC event would have made a a MAJOR statement…..considering the fact that IFPC event would have been held in Wells Fargo Arena….at the SAME time Vice President Biden was to be speaking at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Quite frankly..you can’t BUY that kind of media attention…quite frankly, it would have made caucus night blush in comparison..

Palin missed a golden opportunity to essentially set the tone for 2012 in Iowa…and in doing that…put herself as one of the top contenders right off the bat.
robpo wrote on 11 November, 2009, 9:57
Does it make you sad Hawk that she may not have 2012 ambitions? I’m not jabbing you, you’re just really stuck on this, you seem to think she would have a chance to win the general.

I think she doesn’t have further political ambitions. Really, I think the VP run was so disgusting, so intrusive on her family and life that she is done with it. And why not? Its easier to fly around with freedom and write a book and give speeches and be an activist or lobbyist or whatever. AND you make more money doing that stuff. Plus that would give her more time to be with her family.

Further, you’re right the IFPC event is a golden opportunity that will be missed. It would have been like Britney Spears making a stop at a teen summer camp at the Wells Fargo Arena that day. Although, even in a liberal place like New York, the sheer magnitude of the market would probably boost book sales more than anywhere in Iowa could. But conversely, I don’t think its possible to set a tone today for 2012. 2012 is so far away. Heck, 2010 is so far away for that matter. She’s already a top contender, if she wants it.

We need to be smart about this too though. You may think the prospect of a Palin run is awesome, but realistically, she has little to no chance of actually winning the general election. Not as of today anyway. Do you recognize that?
Peggy wrote on 11 November, 2009, 10:08
Plus she would have to defend her book “Going Rug: An American Lesbian,” right rob?
HawkCR1 wrote on 11 November, 2009, 12:01
Robpo..

it doesn’t make me sad or happy either way about Palin’s 2012 ambitions.. I’m looking at this from a pure political standpoint. If she has ANY ambitions for 2012..she’s going to need to show up at events such as this in early states like Iowa. Especially when you have Joe Biden speaking across the street!

As for Palin winning the general election? That remains to be seen….keep in mind Robpo that not a single political talking head gave Mike Huckabee a shot to win GOP nomination in 2008….and if about 3000 votes had gone his way in South Carolina..Huckabee would have been well on his way to winning that nomination.

Back in 2006 if you had said that then little known Senator Barack Obama from Illinois would knock off Hilary Clinton in 2008 for the Democratic nomination….they’d have called you nuts as well..

So saying that Palin “has little to no chance” of winning a general election is pretty foolish to say right now.

You don’t think its possible to begin “set a tone” for 2012 this early? I would beg to differ. The 2012 campaign will begin in earnest very soon after the 2010 elections are over..

Politics has evolved now to where if you’re going to be a serious presidential candidate, you have to be in the game a YEAR out from the Iowa Caucuses in 2012 at the LATEST… A candidate is going to have to start building organization, fundraising, and communications resources in early states… That takes time, effort and of course a considerable amount of money…

Gone are the days where a candidate can announce their intent to run in 11-12 months out from the Presidential election.
robpo wrote on 11 November, 2009, 17:12
Good points Hawk.

Its kinda crazy your points about Huckabee and Obama. I thought Huckabee had the best shot at the nomination. He’s stupid on social issues (which is smart in reality to appeal to the base) but he had the calm demeanor and plain sensibilities that made him much more appealing than the others in the field. McCain was a maverick only 6 years prior, conservatives HATED him back then, but he veered hard enough and fast enough right that they got onboard just enough. And Obama, I actually attended his first speech after announcing he would run, I got the feeling he was going to win it. His message was a bulls eye to a country forlorn over 8 years of W’s rule, and he really talked the moderate game. I still remember, someone asked about military spending in that event, he answered that military spending will go up before it will go down. Stunningly honest to a room full of blue bloods.

I qualified my comment about Palin by saying she couldn’t win “as of today”. She could certainly get herself polished and informed and move more to the center before the primary run starts, which is what she would have to do to win the general election. But thats pretty doubtful given her current trajectory. If the general election were held tomorrow, I don’t think she would have a chance.

Politics has also evolved into a 24 hour, culture of immediacy in campaigns. A tone set today can change by next week, and again the week after that, etc. You know, I do think Palin is the kind of figure, she could jump into the race at the last minute and win the nomination. Thats assuming there isn’t a clear front-runner, someone people are excited about. Reps didn’t have that in 2008, its hard to imagine today who that person could be for 2012. But you’re right too, the campaign season is ridiculously long and requires much prep work on the local level to get the machine humming.
HawkCR1 wrote on 12 November, 2009, 11:26
Rob..

I dont think that Palin could win the nomination if she jumped in the race at the last minute. Fred Thompson tried that strategy in 2008…He didn’t jump in til Sept 2007..and never really got the traction needed to win.

If Thompson had jumped in say in early 2007…he very well could have pulled it off…but there was one thing stopping Fred Thompson..and that was Fred Thompson. If you asked me, Thompson never really showed the “fire in the belly” if you will.

Besides..as I said before..if you’re going to be a serious Presidential contender…you’ve got to raise tons of cash, have organization in place and communications resources at the ready. That’s something in today’s 24-hour news cycle..you can’t put together in 3-5 months out from the caucuses in 2012.

I’m going to make a bet right here..that you’re going to see people starting to declare for 2012 in Dec 10′-Jan 11′…