Syrin's Blog
Wasilla, Alaska
OCT 21, 2010
Late last Friday afternoon, Palin’s political aide, Andy Davis, contacted officials with a competitive House campaign. Palin would be available Tuesday, Davis said.
As with Grassley, the reaction of the House campaign was to have Palin do a fundraiser.
“What [the candidate] needs more than anything else is money,” said a GOP source familiar with the situation.
No-go, replied Davis, indicating that not only did she not want to raise money, but she also didn’t want to do a rally. The preference was for something “low-key,” so Davis suggested visiting a factory or going door to door. But in doing so, the candidate would have to limit the exposure of the event. They could bring only one “trusted local reporter” along, Davis said, according to a source familiar with the exchange.
Without much media attention, such a grass-roots event would have done next to nothing for the candidate, said the source close to the situation. But the campaign — a lean operation, like those of most House candidates — scrambled to put together another plan that would accommodate Palin. They sent it to Davis on Saturday.
The campaign didn’t get word until Monday morning, the day before the event was to take place, that Palin’s schedule had changed. She couldn’t come. Palin offered no reason for the no-show.
After the experience, the campaign, filled with conservatives who thought well of Palin, began referring to her as “Princess Sarah,” said the source close to the situation.
Another House client of this same person had the same experience — little notice of availability and heavy restrictions on the nature of the event. This candidate, though, is still trying to land Palin for a rally, so few other details were divulged.
And the list goes on.
One major GOP Senate campaign sought Palin’s endorsement at the beginning of the year but didn’t know how to reach her. Out of desperation, they ended up sending a message to her Facebook page. Having never heard back, an operative for the campaign asked a reporter for the e-mail address of Palin’s representative at the time. The campaign got a noncommittal reply.
One major GOP Senate campaign sought Palin’s endorsement at the beginning of the year but didn’t know how to reach her. Out of desperation, they ended up sending a message to her Facebook page. Having never heard back, an operative for the campaign asked a reporter for the e-mail address of Palin’s representative at the time. The campaign got a noncommittal reply.
Then, one day months later, the campaign was told Palin was going to offer her endorsement. They waited for much of the day, frequently checking her Facebook and Twitter page. Finally, a consultant to the campaign put a call into somebody close to Palin and asked if the endorsement was still coming.
“We were told it was going to happen in an hour, and she was going to tweet it,” recounted an operative on the campaign. “But we waited and waited and waited, and it never happened. Then we never heard of it again.”
Some of the complaints are, as Palin sympathizers suggest, partly due to frustration from campaigns that they didn’t get touched.
A source close to losing GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum, for example, recounted a months-long process of trying to woo Palin only to get radio silence, flashes of hope and then signs that she may go with his primary opponent.
In some, but not all, cases, Palin charges campaigns for travel expenses. Georgia Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel, for example, shelled out nearly $100,000 from her campaign account to get Palin for a pre-runoff rally earlier this year.
“I don’t know of anyone else who does that,” said a longtime GOP consultant. Palin is in most of their races seen as toxic with independent thinking voters.
Copyright 2010 Syrin From Wasilla
No comments:
Post a Comment