Is Palin readying a run?

With David Cameron in Ibiza and Ed Miliband on honeymoon, British politics is relatively quiet. But something fascinating is happening in America: Sarah Palin, contrary to media expectations, appears to be preparing to run for the Republican nomination.

With the former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee deciding against getting into the race, Palin has a far better chance of lining up populists and social conservatives behind her candidacy—two formidable voting blocs in the Republican primaries. Add to this that the rest of the Republican field has problems—Mitt Romney because of his inconsistency and the lack of enthusiasm for him while John Huntsman will struggle to shake off the fact he served as President Obama’s ambassador to China and the former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has yet to take off—and you can see why Palin is now doing some of what she’d need to do to run. Her chances are also strengthened by there being—with Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, declining to seek the nomination—no candidate who can unify the Republican establishment behind them.