With a Clinton, a Bush and a Romney all seriously teasing presidential runs, why not a Palin?
Why not, indeed.
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate was asked by ABC News if she’s interested in running for the White House.
“Of course,” she said during the interview, which was conducted as she served wild boar chili to the homeless in Las Vegas.
“Yeah, I mean, of course, when you have a servant’s heart, when you know that there is opportunity to do all you can to put yourself forward in the name of offering service, anybody would be interested,” she said.
From Nevada, Palin headed to Iowa, where potential candidates are addressing a conservative forum. She is expected to speak Saturday evening.
Palin told newspapers reporters in a Des Moines hotel lobby she’s “seriously interested” in a 2016 run.
Time will tell if that serious interest turns into a serious run.
Teasing a presidential run can become something of a hobby for people with a certain level of political celebrity.
Donald Trump, the reality TV star and real estate developer, has teased runs for the White House during a few presidential cycles. He’s in Iowa this weekend, too.
He again didn’t rule out a potential 2016 run for himself, saying if he actually launches a campaign, he’d do it before June.
“I’m the one person who can make this country great again, that’s all I know,” he told reporters after his speech Saturday. “Nobody else can.”
He said he didn’t run in 2012, despite offering similar teases, because he had contractual obligations with NBC and he was still, he said, managing deals all over the world.
What would separate him from the pack?
“My ability, I’ve just done well. I’ve had many many many wins and I’ve had very few losses, and when I had a loss I turned it around into a win,” he said.
As for two of the top potential contenders–Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush–Trump said both would “ultimately fail.”
“Mitt had his chance,” he said. “He should have won and he choked. You don’t want to give a choker a second chance.”
“We’ve had enough of the Bushes,” Trump said, warning that the former Florida governor’s position on Common Core and immigration won’t amount to a “winning formula.”
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, is also looking at a possible 2016 run.
“I am a potential presidential candidate, yes I am,” she told CNN.
Fiorina, who lost the Senate race to Democrat Barbara Boxer in 2010 came to the Hawkeye State to this weekend to thank volunteers for her organization, Unlocking Potential Project, that helps elect female Republicans, and to lay the ground work for a 2016 run.
“I’m looking to build a team here, build a ground game, build political support to help me make a final decision.”
Palin has been out of public service for a number of years after she resigned her governorship in 2009.
Since then, Palin has written books, starred in a reality TV show about Alaska, offered her opinions on Fox News and generally been agent provocateur within the GOP.
But most political watchers have thought her political career was behind her.
Palin also teased a presidential run in 2011, but ultimately decided against it.
“Not being a candidate, really you are unshackled and you’re able to be even more active,” she told the conservative radio host Mark Levin at the time. “I need to be able to say what I want to say.”