Sarah Palin's disappearing act

DISAPPEARING ACT: Rachel Weiner opines on Sarah Palin's fading place in the spotlight, illustrating that the unlikelihood of her candidacy is evidenced by a fading public relations effort; what has come of all the attention lavished on her just months ago? What happened between then and now?

As other 2012 presidential candidates ramp up their campaigns heading into next week’s Ames straw poll and this fall’s debates, Palin is barely a presence in Iowa or any other primary state. She has shot down reports that the high-profile bus tour that took her to New Hampshire in June is over, but two months later it has yet to restart. The end of that tour was her last major media blitz. On June 2nd, wrapping up her trip, Palin criticized Romney in New Hampshire. She appeared on “Hannity” on June 3rd and on “Fox News Sunday” on June 5th. A few days later she was on the cover of Newsweek saying she could beat President Obama. Then Palin disappeared — even as archives of her emails from her time as Alaska governor were released and pored over by the media. On June 28th, she went to Pella, Iowa, for the premiere of “The Undefeated,” a movie about her governorship, but said little. At no point did she get back into the political debate.

I have said before that Palin won't run, albeit in an offhand remark. But this seems to cement it for me. Not that I'm complaining, of course.