GOP Pulls the Plug on Palin

Two weeks of internecine feuding, finger-pointing, and frustration within the Republican Party climaxed today when GOP elders uninvited Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as the main speaker of their big springtime fundraising event. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will take her place.

Party officials couldn't even agree whether Palin -- the subject of a Condé Nast Portfolio cover story by Joe McGinniss this month -- had ever actually accepted their March 16 invitation.

National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh told Patrick O'Connor at Politico that the governor's team had initially confirmed her appearance at the high-profile event. But Meghan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for SarahPAC, the political action committee that is trying to cultivate a national profile for Palin, said the governor "never confirmed" her appearance.

Palin has made no secret of her desire to run for president in 2012, but Politico said those ambitions are being undermined by mixups like the fundraising flap. It characterized the flip-flop as one in a "seemingly unending series of public relations gaffes" that "has Palin loyalists frustrated and worried she is diminishing her stature."

Fox News characterized the whole affair as a "Palin snub" and said that it illustrates "growing discontent in the party with the Alaska governor and her potential ability to lead the GOP."

by Mark Stein

Condé Nast Portfolio's cover story about Governor Palin by Joe McGinniss can be found here.