No, Sarah Palin isn’t back

Democratic Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska had perhaps the most appropriate reaction to the “news” that Sarah Palin may seek to run against him in 2014: Win a primary, then you’ll get my attention.

He continued:

“I take every candidate seriously -- that is, if she’s still a resident, but you know she quit on Alaska when she was governor. She’s been somewhat vacant from the state and quit on the state, so I wish her the best on her potential run.”

Begich was responding to an interview Palin gave to (who else?) Sean Hannity, in which she said her final decision wasn’t made but that she had been encouraged to run by other Alaskans: “I’ve considered it because people have requested me considering it, but I’m still waiting to see what the lineup will be and hoping that … there will be some new blood, some new energy.”

If we learned anything from Palin’s multi-year flirtation with the media leading up to the 2012 election, it’s that she parlays speculation over her ambition into continued publicity, which drives book sales and her career as a Fox News “analyst.” It’s her way of stringing us along, providing cover to pundits and journalists to focus their attention on her because, well, she may be president (or senator, or mayor of Wasilla) one day.

But with 2012 behind us, we know Palin will never run for president, though few of us who write about her would be willing to admit she played us for fools after 2008 (bear in mind she never even formed an exploratory committee, which would have allowed her to raise money before officially declaring her candidacy). Her only option left, one that will give her any sense of political legitimacy, is to fuel speculation of her Senate hopes. And this time, she did it in such an uninspired way, by saying that others have encouraged her to consider it. What’s there not to believe?

So it’s understandable that Begich, arguably the only one whose opinion matters on this subject, isn’t shaken by fear.

And lest we forget, Palin actually held elected office once. Even after her bruising 2008 campaign for vice president that unintentionally injected humor into a dead-serious race, she returned to Alaska as its fairly popular governor.

And she quit. When it comes to Palin’s true ambitions, what speaks more loudly than that?

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