Sarah Palin’s Law Firm Checking Primary Deadlines

Sarah Palin's law firm has been calling states about primary filing deadlines.

Politico‘s Maggie Haberman and Kenneth Vogel (“Sarah Palin-affiliated law firm made early-state deadline inquiries“) are reading the tea leaves for evidence of a Sarah Palin presidential run.

Ken Vogel and I both have sources telling us that calls were made on behalf of a mystery candidate to various early states to determine presidential filing deadlines.

The calls were made by representatives of the law firm Baker Hostetler – a firm that employs lawyer Mark Braden, who represents Sarah PAC, her political action committee.

As Ken notes, while he nor representatives of Palin’s campaign would comment on the calls, Palin is the only GOP politician eying the presidential race who is represented by the firm.

Considering that the filing deadlines for the various states is easily discoverable by Google searches, this seems rather dubious. And Braden is no amateur, having spent years as Chief Counsel to the Republican National Committee and touts himself as “widely recognized as an authority on state election laws, having served as Chief Counsel to the Ohio Elections Commission and Election Counsel for the Secretary of State in Ohio.”

The fact that Palin is touring the early primary states in a giant bus with her name on it would seem, as Jon Stewart has noted, as evidence either that she’s running for president or is crazy (not that these are mutually exclusive options). Given that the deadline for filing in Iowa–which she has to contest if she wants the nomination– is this month, we’ll soon know.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. grumpy realist says:

    This is just the next coy maneuver with the fan. Show a bit of flesh and the marks go wild.

    Let’s put it this way–if the US populace is stupid enough to elect Sarah Palin to the post of U.S. Presidency, it deserves what it gets.

  2. Tsar Nicholas II says:

    Indeed, an obvious bait and switch. Keep in mind Palin’s supporters are astonishingly naive and malleable and Palin is unfathomably narcissistic. This is Palin’s way of grifting one last round of hot money for her PAC and for getting one last round of major media attention before the actual primary contest relegates her to armchair quarterback.