Palin's mystery bus tour keeps media guessing
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks about Sarah Palin's mystery bus tour and its affect on the political scene -- and the media.
By Sheldon Alberts
Postmedia News
For someone who insists she is not looking for publicity, Sarah Palin is once again proving to be a master at getting everyone to pay attention.
The former Alaska governor has sent America's political media into a paparazzi-style frenzy with her new 'One Nation' bus tour, a multi-day trek to historical sites along the U.S. east coast.
Ostensibly designed to focus attention on American values of liberty and freedom, the tour has been the trigger for another round of speculation about whether Palin will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
That question -and Palin's coy refusal to answer it, yet -has turned normally-staid political reporters into something resembling the celebrity-stalking correspondents for TMZ. . .
"I think that she certainly sees her strong interest in keeping this media frenzy going, because it adds to her speaking fees. It adds to her value for Fox News and her other money-making enterprises," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University.
Palin's bus tour "keeps the door open to a presidential run should she decide to make one," added Jillson, who remains skeptical she will run.
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