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Thursday, January 5, 2012

US: What ever happened to the "Palin Earthquake"?

PJ: I have read a lot about Palin over the last few years, far too much to be honest. But after she told her supporters that, even though she had toyed with running on her 'will she or won't she' bus tour, she was not going to run for president, 24/7 coverage of her ceased...until the lead up to the Iowa caucus. A couple of weeks ago, almost every media source covered an interview she gave to (her employer) Fox News insisting that there was still time for "someone" to enter the race, leading many to speculate that she might still throw her wig hat into the ring. More recently, the MSM ran with the story of how her supporters in Iowa were planning an ad campaign called 'Sarah Palin's Earthquake' that directed Iowa republicans to write-in her name during the Iowa caucus. The MSM gave this write-in campaign a lot of publicity, much more than its organizers could have afforded by buying spots for themselves. Surprisingly nothing more was reported after the caucus results were tallied...there simply was no mention of Palin at all. It seems as if the predicted earthquake, just like so many other predicted natural disasters, did not happen.

Alaska Dispatch

Predicted 'Iowa Earthquake' for Palin ends without a whimper
By Craig Medred

Alaska's Denali earthquake of 2002 might have been felt as far away as Louisiana, but the Sarah Palin earthquake of 2011 apparently never made it south of Wasilla.

Fans of the former, half-term Alaska governor and unsuccessful vice-presidential candidate urged voters in this week's Iowa Republican presidential primary to "go rogue'' (It's a play on an autobiography a ghost writer penned about Palin, in case you've been living in a cave for the past couple years) and rock the The Hawkeye State with "Sarah Palin's Iowa Earthquake.'' A group supporting Palin purchased radio and television ads aimed at disaffected voters: “Are you unhappy with the current GOP field? Let me tell you something, you are not alone. Join thousands of Iowans as we vote rogue. It's the caucus for Sarah Palin on Jan 3. Let Iowa and the entire country know we want real leadership and real reform in DC."

Iowans, however, clearly didn't go for the star of "Sarah Palin's Alaska.'' With the final caucus results in, Palin's name doesn't even appear in the list of candidates tallied. Any votes for her are somewhere in the "other" category which numbered well short of the "thousands." It tallied a total of 117 votes to be exact. So few wrote down Palin's name the caucuses didn't even bother to tally her count by name, though they did keep track of votes for Herman Cain, who'd formally withdrawn from the race, and Buddy Roemer, the former governor of Louisiana.

Roemer has been running a virtual campaign focused on social media. It won him 31 votes in Iowa, 27 less than Cain got. Roemer didn't even know how the Iowa caucuses work. He had to learn the details on Twitter. Hint: There is no ballot. The Republicans who gather on primary night write down the names of their favorites on blank sheets of paper, which are then counted.

Alaska's Palin didn't need to get on the ballot to gain votes in Iowa. All she needed was voters who could spell her name, which would seem a lot easier than spelling "Roemer" or "Santorum," who came second in the polling with 30,007 votes. And "Palin" has to be considered at least as easy to spell as "Romney," first with 30,015 votes.

Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/predicted-iowa-earthquake-palin-ends-without-whimper

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