Is Governor Palin Checking Out Iowa?

Some exciting news has emerged from the Hawkeye state. Real Clear Politics is reporting that SarahPAC has been quietly gauging grassroots support in Iowa for a possible Presidential run. While this is the first news of specific 2012 Presidential possibilities, Governor Palin is no stranger to Iowa as she has made three stops in Iowa in the past four months. She made two stops in Iowa during her most recent book tour earlier this winter. One stop was in the capital city of Des Moines in late November, and one stop was in the northern town of Spirit Lake in early December. Governor Palin also spoke at the Iowa Republican Reagan day dinner this past September. During the 2010 Midterm election, Governor Palin endorsed newly inaugurated Governor Terry Branstad. She also endorsed Attorney General candidate, Brenna Findley, who lost her bid to unseat seven term AG Tom Miller.

Without further ado, here's the exciting news:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned.

Key Republican officials and operatives in the nation's first voting state had begun to assume that Palin would not run for president in 2012 since most of them have not heard a word from her or from her small circle of aides, even as other likely candidates have begun jockeying more forcefully behind the scenes. But a Palin adviser confirmed that although the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee's footprint has not been as heavy as that of other possible candidates, her political action committee has indeed been taking discreet steps in Iowa that would help her build a credible campaign here if she decided to launch one.

"The idea that we're not in Iowa is inaccurate," SarahPAC adviser Andy Davis told RealClearPolitics.

A top official in the Iowa Tea Party who insisted on anonymity to avoid betraying Palin's trust told RealClearPolitics that a friend of SarahPAC met with him in person in Des Moines late last year and prodded him for suggestions on how Palin might mount a grassroots campaign in the state.

Earlier this month, the same Iowa Tea Party official began preliminary work on scheduling a potential invitation to Palin for a fundraiser in Iowa. RealClearPolitics independently confirmed that the Tea Party official has been in contact with Palin allies.

Even as speculation has ramped up in media and campaign circles that Palin has become increasingly unlikely to mount a presidential campaign, her aides have been strategizing on how they would organize their infrastructure in Iowa and have continued to reach out gently to close confidantes in the state.

"I know of three of four people in Iowa who have had contact with Palin's aides," the Iowa Tea Party official said.

Read more here.

Crossposted here.