The Fix

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is looking to build a national political operation in advance of 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Miller, File)

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office later this month, according to several sources familiar with her decision, freeing her to build a national political team and travel the country in support of an expected 2012 presidential bid.

The first term governor is stepping down "so that she can take the fight for her issues elsewhere," according to a Palin aide.

Palin's decision comes amid polling that showed her losing altitude from the stratospheric heights to which she ascended following her election in 2006 but remained a strong favorite to win reelection.

Some Republican strategists expressed skepticism about Palin's decision.

"I'm not smart enough to see the strategy in this," said John Weaver, a senior party strategist. "Good point guards don't quit and walk off the court."

Ron Bonjean, a Republican consultant, said, "Governor Palin can now run for President
without playing the balancing act of keep Alaskan voters happy. While she has a core following, many Republicans are getting tired of the constant drama that surrounds her
family."

National Democrats also were quick to criticize the move.

"Her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today," said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.

Palin is the second potential 2012 candidate to decide against reelection. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty chose not to run for a third term last month.

As we wrote recently, the logistics of running for president while the sitting governor of the Last Frontier is nearly impossible.

Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton rejected the idea the move was aimed at 2012. "She is not focused on 2012 -- she is focused on making a difference on the topics she finds so dear: energy independence [and] national security."

Earlier this week we made the case for Richard Nixon's inclusion in the Fix Political Hall of Fame. Today we make the opposite argument.

Any conversation about Nixon and his legacy begins and ends -- necessarily -- with Watergate.

The break-ins at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which ultimately led to the unraveling of Nixon's presidency and a permanent scar on the body politic, is symbolic of everything that was wrong about Tricky Dick: paranoia, an inability to contextualize the happenings in the political world around him, and a troubling willingness to bend and break the rules in service of his ambitions.

The war of words between conservative columnist Bill Kristol and Steve Schmidt, former campaign manager for John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, has ensnared another senior adviser, Mark Salter, who has come to Schmidt's defense after a recent appearance by Kristol on "Fox & Friends".

During that appearance, Kristol reiterated a battery of charges -- first made in an outstanding piece by Politico's Jonathan Martin -- including that Schmidt accused Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, of suffering from postpartum depression, and that Schmidt had gone into the e-mail account of a McCain staffer to find out if the staffer was leaking information to the media.

"This was not a well-run campaign," said Kristol. "Schmidt did not behave very honorably."

Enter Salter who, upon watching Kristol's interview, e-mailed the Fix to rebut several of the charges in it.

Salter, who is widely seen as McCain's alter ego, insisted that Schmidt was the "primary defender" of Palin once she was named the vice presidential nominee and the "architect of the campaign's communication strategy" aimed at pushing back on attacks against her.

As for the e-mail kerfuffle, Salter acknowledged that a "keyword search" of the entire campaign staff's email was conducted after "damaging" and "unfair" leaks began to make their way into the media. (Salter rejected the idea that a single staffer was targeted.)

"The keyword search discovered an email from a staffer to a reporter that contained derogative and inaccurate information about another staffer, information which had made its way into the press," said Salter. "Appropriate disciplinary action was initiated against that staffer by senior management, which, again, included Steve Schmidt and others."

While this fight is largely academic -- after all, McCain lost and President Obama won -- it reveals the still-raw feelings left from a campaign that came up short.

It's hard to see either Kristol or Schmidt/Salter backing down in their respective charges so this story may play out for weeks to come as the two sides battle for control of the rough draft of the campaign's history.

A coalition of liberal interest groups is launching ads in 17 congressional districts over the July 4 weekend that thanks members of Congress for their vote in favor of President Obama's climate change legislation, a direct counter to a series of attacks on that same vote being sponsored by national Republicans.

Environmental Defense Fund, Americans United and Vote Vets are sponsoring the commercials, which will run in the following members' districts: Reps. Betsy Markey (Colo.), Allen Boyd (Fla.), Alan Grayson (Fla.), Suzanne Kosmas (Fla.), Baron Hill (Ind), Debbie Halvorson (Ill.), Ben Chandler (Ky.), Frank Kratovil (Md.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Mark Schauer (Mich.), Paul Hodes (N.H.), Dan Maffei (N.Y.), Mary Jo Kilroy (Ohio), Zack Space (Ohio), Tom Perriello (Va.), Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz.) and Steve Kagen (Wis.).

Here's a sample of the ads running in the districts above:

The release of these ads is evidence that the Democratic third party groups have grown increasingly well organized since President Obama took office roughly six months ago. The ability to funnel money to these groups and organize a coordinated message is a reflection of the stepped up coordination efforts being led by a handful of longtime Washington hands including Democratic consultant Erik Smith, who is with the group Common Purpose Project.

That's the number of days of the Fix July 4 vacation that starts today. (Ok, so it might not be the most important number in politics but it is sort of important to Fixistas, right?)

We still have a few posts up our sleeves -- the case against Richard Nixon's inclusion in the Fix Political Hall of Fame will come tomorrow, for example -- but, by and large, we will be off the grid, as the kids say.

That means no Line tomorrow (will you survive?) and no Morning Fix tomorrow or Monday.

The Fix will be fully operational again on Tuesday. Have a great fourth of July and try not to "Sanford it."

Is a Sarah Palin comeback in the works? Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

After enduring months of derision within Republican circles for her role as the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee and her uneven performance as a national figure this year, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is experiencing something of a rebound among the D.C. chattering class in the 48 hours since the release of a very tough profile on her in Vanity Fair magazine.

In the wake of that piece -- a 9,800 word opus penned by Todd Purdum -- a number of operatives who worked closely with Palin during the 2008 campaign have reached out to the Fix to defend the governor.

"She's a fine person, with unique and unteachable political skills," said Mark Salter, a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) presidential bid who was deeply involved with the Palin pick. "I'm sure she has a future if she wants one."

Palin got a vote of confidence from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele as well on Wednesday during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

"Sarah Palin will be a leader in this party," said Steele during an appearance Wednesday on "Morning Joe." "She has the ability to galvanize the base, and even folks outside the base. "And I think all the hindsight second guessing and back looking does nothing."

That sentiment -- boiled down to "enough is enough" -- seemed to be the prevalent opinion of Republicans in the aftermath of the Purdum piece, which contains a series of background quotes from former McCain-Palin operatives that suggest that the Alaska governor was fundamentally unfit for the job to which she aspired.

Jason Recher, who served as a senior adviser to Palin and her trip director for the general election and has remained supportive of the Alaska governor, told the Fix that he spent two and a half months traveling with Palin and "grew to like and respect her even more as did many of the folks on the plane." Reche added that the people attacking Palin should "stand up and prove them on the record or move on with their lives like Sarah Palin has."

To be sure, there are still plenty of Republicans involved in the 2008 campaign who roll their eyes when asked about Palin's readiness to be vice president or the possibility of her running in 2012 for the top job.

But, the glut of anti-Palin quotes and stories that have bounced about the Washington echo chamber for the better part of the last six months -- Is she coming to the congressional fundraising dinner? Why is she fighting with David Letterman? What is going on with her daughter -- seem to be having the cumulative effect of turning Palin into a sympathetic figure (at least at the moment) among the GOP operative class.

It's not uncommon for a series of negative stories -- no matter how much truth is contained therein -- to have a boomerang effect on the person at the center of the controversy.

One needs only look back as far as the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton to see that phenomenon at work. The wall to wall coverage of Clinton had the effect -- over time -- of convincing people that Clinton had been beaten up enough and turning public opinion to his side.

That is what appears to be happening at the moment for Palin. The issue is whether she can take advantage of the softening of operatives' attitude toward her to re-introduce herself to the political set in Washington.

Although Palin will almost certainly run for president as an outsider to Washington (if she runs at all), she will need advocates inside the Beltway to help her raise money and keep a lid on the background sniping that is part and parcel of any presidential bid.

Palin may -- finally -- be understanding that reality.

Fred Malek, who served as a national finance committee chair for McCain's presidential bid, said that he recently hosted a foreign policy lunch at Palin's request in which she mixed with the likes of former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci and former deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott.

"She has been vastly underestimated as a result of one or two interviews," said Malek of Palin. "I have spent a lot of time around her and can state unequivocally she is smart, perceptive, curious, and absolutely on top of issues like energy which are pivotal to her role as Alaska's Governor. "

The resignation hum is growing in South Carolina as Gov. Mark Sanford tries to weather the storm of his own making. AP Photo by Steve Helber

That's the number of Republican state legislators in South Carolina who have gone on the record to call for Gov. Mark Sanford to step aside in the wake of his disappearance and a series of admissions of dalliances outside of his marriage.

In addition to the 19 members of the state legislature calling for his ouster, six newspapers -- the Greenville News, the Rock Hill Herald, the Aiken Standard, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the Orangeburg Times and Democrat and the Charlotte Observer -- have also opined that Sanford's time leading the state is up.

Even Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C) seems to have turned the corner on Sanford, telling Fox & Friends this morning that "a lot of us are talking to him behind the scenes in hopes that he'll make the right decision about what needs to be done."

What all of the above means is that critical mass is rapidly being reached for a Sanford resignation.

As we wrote yesterday, Sanford almost certainly would have survived until the end of his term had he not granted an "emotional" (kiss of political death) interview with the Associated Press.

What Sanford did in that interview was turn the debate from one that was beginning to center on Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's readiness for the office -- a topic explored brilliantly by Phil "Bring the Ruckus" Rucker in today's Post -- back into a conversation about how a man who had misled his family and the people of South Carolina multiple times could remain in office.

Sanford's interview with the AP amounted to a political kamikaze mission that seems to suggest that the operative question now is not if he will resign but when he will resign.

Politics is amazing, ain't it?

The latest installment of Mouthpiece Theater -- a day late due to Post digital video problems but NEVER a dollar short -- for your viewing pleasure.

Bananas

An unlikely diplomat, President Richard Nixon saw his presidency defined by his foreign policy accomplishments. (STF/AFP/Getty Images)

Today begins the first of three weeks of analysis and debate over the three nominees -- Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Tip O'Neill -- for inclusion in the Fix Political Hall of Fame.

We will make a case for and a case against each man in the next 21 days and at the end of that process, we'll turn it over to Fixistas for a vote. The man with the most votes enters the HOF. The others have to, as Doris Kearns Goodwin says, wait 'till next year (or, in this case, next month).

Nixon is first up in this shortened holiday week -- a slight that the former president almost certainly would have noticed and groused about were he still alive.

Perseverance Personified: If part of the American ethos is rising, being knocked backward and rising again, then Nixon is the politician whose career best embodies it. Nixon was a fast riser -- winning a seat in Congress while he was in his early 30s and getting elected to the Senate soon after that. By 39, he was Dwight Eisenhower's running mate and spent most of his 40s in the White House as vice president. (He almost didn't make it when allegations of his ties to a group of wealthy businessmen threatened his place on the ticket in 1952; Nixon, characteristically, bounced back with the "Checkers" speech).

Adversity struck in earnest as Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential race and two years later lost a run for governor of California -- a defeat punctuated by his angry and self-pitying post-election address in which he famously declared: "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."

But, Nixon was far from done in politics; he had the itch and he couldn't resist scratching it despite himself. Nixon re-emerged as a national figure during the 1964 and 1966 campaigns and by 1968 he was not only running for president but (finally) winning his coveted office by beating Hubert Humphrey. Nixon's reelection romp four years later presaged his largest (and final) setback -- one that came to define his career.

But, a look at the totality of Nixon's political career shows a uniquely American story of aspiration, accomplishment, failure and (attempted) reclamation. Nixon is to politics as Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden or even Michael Vick is to sports. We, as a country, love second chances and Nixon had more of them than any politician in modern memory.

Sen.-elect Al Franken. Photo by Eric Miller of Reuters

Senator-elect Al Franken's (D) victory over former senator Norm Coleman (R) in the Minnesota Senate race was among the closest (a 312 vote margin) and longest (it ended 238 days after election day) contests in modern political history.

How did Franken manage to wind up on top? In a race this close there are any numbers of things -- large and small -- that swayed the result. But, in conversations with strategists who were intimately involved in the campaign, the recount and the legal proceedings (whew!) a few key elements emerged.

• Legal Eagles: Marc Elias, a Democratic election attorney with Perkins Coie, was on the ground in Minnesota within days of the near-tie on election day. Elias spearheaded a series of legal victories in the early days of the recount that effectively defined the universe of votes that were counted and led to Franken going from behind on election night to ahead when they recount ended. By the time Ben Ginsberg, the Republicans' election lawyer par excellence, got deeply involved, it was already too late.

• An Organizational Mismatch: When Franken brought on Stephanie Shriock (and Eric Schultz) to manage the campaign in the summer of 2008, he (perhaps unknowingly) laid the groundwork for the victory he -- eventually -- scored on Tuesday. Shriock had guided Sen. Jon Tester's (D-Mont.) 2006 victory with a heavy emphasis on organization; she instituted that same mentality in Franken's campaign, building a large and aggressive machine that went into overdrive during the recount and simply outworked and outflanked the Coleman campaign. The edict from a state court that forced the two campaigns to go through each contested ballot and find an agreeable standard for counting played right into Franken's organizational strength.

• It Pays To Be Ahead: When the statewide recount ended, Franken led by 225 votes. As we wrote at the time (and many times after that), it's hard to overstate how important the fact that Franken was ahead was to setting public perception regarding the legal fight that ensued. Coleman was forced to be the aggressor legally, claiming that all sorts of ballots had been illegally counted (and not counted) while, through it all, the fact that Franken led by 225 votes hung over the proceedings. Voters tend to lose interest in politics quickly -- particularly after an election as nasty and long as this race was -- and that sort of fatigue played right into Franken's hands.

• Calm, Cool and Collected: Franken's problem throughout the race was, well, himself. A comedian, satirist and provocateur during the days before his Senate bid, Franken spent the entire campaign trying to prove to Minnesota voters that he was a serious person who wanted the job for all the right reasons. Franken's ad campaign did a solid job on that front (his two best featured his 4th grade teacher and his wife) even as Coleman was stripping off the bark with his own ad campaign. When the race ended in a tie, Franken did something very smart; he stayed out of the spotlight. He was rarely seen or heard and when he did pop into public view it was during an occasional visit to Washington when he was huddling with potential colleagues and getting briefed on issues by potential staffers -- in short, acting like a senator. He gave Republicans nothing to use to sow doubts about whether he was ready for the office to which he was headed. While Franken's personal discipline did little to effect the legal outcome, it played a critical part in slowly but surely securing public support behind the idea that not only had he won but that he was ready to be a senator.

• $$$: Recounts and six-month legal fights aren't cheap. Franken's national connections -- including his close ties to the affluent Hollywood community -- allowed him to collect more than $2 million from mid-November through the end of March. (Reports for the second fundraising quarter won't be filed with the Federal Election Commission until mid July.) Franken's willingness and ability to raise millions in support of the extended legal fight allowed him to keep on the best and brightest in terms of staff and run the sort of Rolls Royce campaign that kept him ahead throughout the seven plus months the race went into overtime.