The Other McCain

MINNEAPOLIS
“We are not having this phone conversation.” The phone call woke me up from a well-deserved nap here at the Hilton, site of the Right Online conference. Before I’d laid down for my nap, I’d posted a brief item at The American Spectator blog:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected within a week to make a decision on whether to enter the 2012 presidential campaign, according to one Republican source.
Vendors of campaign services who hope to work for Team Palin have been told that Palin, the 2008 GOP vice-presidential candidate, will decide soon one way or another on mounting a 2012 campaign.

That’s what my source said. And here’s what Sarah Palin said:

To which I replied:

See what I’m saying? My source hears something, my source tells me, and I report it: a mere two sentences. Next thing you know, the governor herself is Tweeting a statement — which, I repeat, does not look exactly like a denial — and, I am told, both my post and Palin’s response are discussed on the radio by Rush Limbaugh. And then my nap gets interrupted by a phone call that’s so off-the-record I’m not even supposed to say I got a phone call.

Sigh. My apologies to all those reporters at the NYT, the WaPo and other mainstream media who are trying to chase down this story. Good luck. I’m going to try to finish my nap now.

UPDATE: Nap delayed again, because there’s a Memeorandum thread now, and I see that CNN’s Alison Harding takes Palin’s Tweet as a denial. But is it?

Did the governor say, “No, I’m not planning to make a decision next week”? Or, better yet, did she deny that her team have informed interested parties to expect a decision in that time frame?

Jim Geraghty at NRO has some helpful thoughts on exactly how long Palin could wait, noting that “the ranks of the unaffiliated staffers and volunteers grows thinner week by week.”

Geraghty also spots the key phrase in my AmSpec report: “vendors of campaign services who hope to work for Team Palin.” These are businesses. They can’t operate on the basis of maybe getting contracts from a potential campaign that may or may not happen. So it would obviously be in their interest to ask, “How soon will we know? When will a decision be made?”

BTW, I’ve talked to my original source twice since this story broke. And I’m standing by the story.

UPDATE II: Allahpundit also examines the timetable of a Palin campaign rollout (or not). But Allahpundit talks about an “announcement” and my source didn’t say anything about an announcement. No, my source was talking about a decision. An announcement and a decision are two different things.

UPDATE III: It is interesting to see some idiots try to depict me as being anti-Palin. Just FYI:

• The Miracle Worker (Sept. 8, 2008)
• Sweetheart of the Heartland (Sept. 10, 2008)
• Stickin’ With the Hockey Mom (Oct. 31, 2008)
• Palin’s Popularity vs. Media Mania (Nov. 17, 2009)
• Palin to the People (March 29, 2010)
• Meeting Mr. Palin (Sept. 3, 2010)
• Wasilla, USA (October 2010)

So, memo to Palin fans: Just because I’m a reporter doesn’t mean I’m the enemy.

UPDATE IV: Thanks, Rush!