Sarah. Palin: ‘No on premature endorsements’ (Updated)

– by Josh Painter
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Reporter Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register has the first post up on Gov. Palin at the Iowa State Fair:

Will tea party rock star Sarah Palin endorse anyone while she’s in Iowa – maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry?

A beaming Sarah Palin, surrounded by a pack of camera-armed fairgoers, said no.

“Oh, you know the process hasn’t even played itself out yet, so no on premature endorsements,” Palin told The Des Moines Register as she eyed livestock in the Cattle Barn.

“And I haven’t even decided yet if I’m going to jump in or not yet.”

But she added later that Perry is “a great guy.”

Sarah Palin arrived at the Iowa State Fair at about 10:45 a.m., just as presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty was finishing up with his pork-chop-flipping photo opp.

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Apparently for security reasons, the governor made a stealth entrance through a back-door gate used to bring in livestock, and the first place where she visited with Iowans at the fair was the Cattle Barn.

Update: Another post by Jennifer Jacobs:

Republican Sarah Palin said today that if she runs for president, she will campaign on her record as a mayor and governor in Alaska.

“Just speaking from the heart, where I think America needs to head and how I think we can turn the economy around and here’s what I’ve done in the past to show you truly a foundation of where my beliefs come from, of what works – in a small town, in a state, in a big industry like oil and gas. What is it that can be done to turn things around. I’ll express that,” Palin told reporters who huddled around her at the Iowa State Fair.

Palin will be in Iowa just for one day, she said. “I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes so I won’t be in the state tomorrow,” she said.

When the Iowa Straw Poll begins tomorrow, “we’ll already be on the bus, heading out of here.”

But next month “has to be kind of a drop-dead timeline” for deciding whether or not she will make a bid for the White House herself, she said.

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Cross-posted from Texans for Sarah Palin

– JP