Huckabee and Trump not running for president in 2012: Will Sarah Palin?

Huckabee and Trump not running for president in 2012: Will Sarah Palin?

Huckabee and Trump not running for president in 2012: Will Sarah Palin?

From Wasilla to Washington.
May 17 2011 5:41 PM

They're Dropping Like Flies

Neither Huckabee nor Trump is running. Does that mean Sarah Palin will?

Since we last checked in, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump have both officially announced that they won't be running for the Republican presidential nomination, leaving Sarah Palin as the potential GOP field's sole remaining reality TV star AND its sole Fox News contributor. Do their departures mean she's more likely to run?

Possibly. Huckabee's departure in particular leaves evangelicals and social conservative voters up for grabs. Nate Silver, for one, thinks the Huckabee bow-out helps Palin, should she want to run. Both Trump's and Huckabee's announcements were greeted with gleeful enthusiasm by the blog Conservatives4Palin (which was started by Palin aide Rebecca Mansour). Palin, meanwhile, has been more active than usual on Twitter over the past week, opining on the debt crisis and the anniversary of Israel's independence. (She also blew a couple of kisses in the direction of the Weekly Standard and the National Review, both of which were instrumental in her '08 rise to prominence, but which have largely turned up their noses of late.)  And in the clearest sign she's serious about running after all, the Washington Post reported yesterday that  Palin's PAC   sent out 400,000 direct mailers titled "2012 Can't Come Fast Enough."  Yet her decision, apparently, cannot come slowly enough. The Palin Meter moves back up to 43 percent.

Previous Palin Meter Readings

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011: 39 percent

Thursday, May 5, 2011: 46 percent

Thursday, April 28, 2011: 44 percent

Monday, April 18, 2011:
44 percent

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 39 percent

Tuesday, April 5, 2011: 43 percent

Monday, March 28, 2011: 49 percent

Wednesday, March 23, 2011:
53 percent

Friday, March 18, 2011: 55 percent

Wednesday, March 16, 2011:
55 percent

Thursday, March 10, 2011: 48 percent

Tuesday, March 8, 2011:
35 percent

Monday, March 7, 2011:
40 percent

Friday, March 3, 2011:
45 percent

Tuesday, March 1, 2011:
51 percent

Noreen Malone is a senior editor at New York Magazine.