Governor Palin 4 President

The truth is that Palin remains the only real first-tier presidential candidate the Republicans have— the only candidate who has been on a national ticket. Should she decide to run an active campaign, she would likely recover a good bit of the ground she has lost, just by repositioning herself as a real politician and abandoning her current incarnation as a reality TV star. It’s still not too late for her to give a series of serious policy speeches; not too late for her to put together a real campaign staff; not too late for her to crisscross Iowa and New Hampshire; and not too late, certainly, for her to raise tons of money for a campaign.

To be sure, Palin retains the same drawbacks that she’s had all along, and so far she hasn’t done much to erase them. She’s a first-tier candidate, albeit one with very serious disadvantages, both for the general election and for nomination politics.

But as a first-tier candidate, a late start wouldn’t really be a major disadvantage. It’s not as if she would be Gary Hart in 1988, George McGovern in 1984, or Gene McCarthy in 1972 — a former heavyweight reduced to an object of curiosity. If Palin does wind up entering the race and running an active campaign, she’ll almost certainly be a major player.

Letter To The Editor: I’d like to thank Eugene Robinson for highlighting Alaska’s achievements on climate change [“Palin’s own ‘Climate- gate,’” op-ed, Dec. 15] and for noting that I’ve “treated the issue as serious, complex, and worthy of urgent attention,” while making “any number of pragmatic, reasonable, smart decisions as governor.” But he’s wrong to suggest that my views have somehow changed or that now I’ll have to “renounce” my past efforts.

Once again: I don’t deny that climate change is real. In creating a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with the issue, I said that “Alaska’s climate change strategy must be built on sound science and the best available facts and must recognize Alaska’s interest in economic growth and the development of its resources.” That goal made sense to me then, and it makes sense to me now. 

Mr. Robinson tries to make hay out of the fact that I asked the group to advise me regarding opportunities to participate in “carbon-trading markets.” But considering voluntary participation in carbon-trading programs is much different from endorsing the economically disastrous cap-and-tax proposals put forward by Democrats in Washington. Those proposals will burden our job creators and raise energy prices for all of us, and that’s why I oppose them. 

As governor of Alaska, I sought common-sense solutions that took real-world costs and benefits into account. That’s what I’m looking for now. But that’s not what’s on the table in Washington or in Copenhagen. 

Sarah Palin, Wasilla, Alaska