Is Palin Veering Off Course or Blazing Her Own Trail?

Since last year’s presidential election, Sarah Palin has made unconventional moves for someone presumably planning to make a play for the White House in 2012. CNN’s Alexander Mooney takes a look at what she’s doing and whether it’s working to solidify her status in the GOP and boost her chances of running for president soon. –KA

CNN:

“Her biggest problem is the perception that she is not qualified to be president,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. “Seven in 10 Americans, and nearly half of all Republicans, say she is not qualified. It’s a problem that politicians have faced before, but one that few have been able to overcome.”

On the other hand, the former Alaska governor keeps injecting herself into national policy debates, largely from Facebook postings that have taken aim at President Obama’s stances on a host of issues, a sign that she is set on remaining a relevant political figure.

She’s also retained a fervent following and the bona fide rock-star status that enabled her to pack more campaign town hall meetings than McCain could on his own.

Two-thirds of all Americans in the CNN poll think she is not a typical politician. If Palin has her eye on the White House, she’s staking out a different path toward it.

“Palin has thrown the old GOP playbook out the window,” said Matt Lewis, a conservative writer for the Web site Politics Daily. “She believes that the world has changed, that all the old rules don’t apply, and the conventional wisdom no longer exists.”

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