Out of the Spotlight

I figure this is the perfect piece to use to mention the Palin Wager Gadget that I've added to my blog.

The Hill reports that Sarah Palin won't be attending the Governor's Conference in DC and she bowed out of speaking at the CPAC meeting as well, Palin shuns spotlight to pick up the pieces:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is uncharacteristically shunning the spotlight this week in an apparent effort to repair damage to her political stature back home.

Even though just about every big-name governor and leading conservative will be in Washington this week, the former vice presidential candidate skipped this weekend's National Governors Association meeting and will be absent from the Conservative Political Action Conference later this week."

After suffering through a rocky month back home she spent Friday in rural Alaska, providing state aid to rural communities hit hard by food and fuel shortages.

"To a certain extent, she's doing damage control in western Alaska," said Anchorage-based pollster Ivan Moore.

So Sarah plans to keep a low profile in the days (and months?) ahead? Just the news I wanted to hear. The perfect way to start the week.

Why do I care? My dozen or so regular readers probably know about my office wager with one of the LLWL members. Shortly after the election, our lunch group got into a discussion about Palin's future (in politics or otherwise). Clearly she's a publicity hound, but the question was whether the media and public would move on to newer celebrities and politicos, leaving Palin behind.

Although I'm normally not a gambler, I even agreed to a wager. My bet was that Sarah would slink off sooner rather than later, while my colleague said Sarah's staying. The loser has to buy pizza for the office from Old Forge, located nearby my hometown of Scranton (which I have bragged for years has the best pizza ever). After much back & forth on the matter, we decided that the Ides of March would be the date of determination. At that point in time, would Sarah Palin still be in the news?

We're now in the process of arguing over how we decide who won which, in & of itself, will no doubt take up much time in lively discussions. I thought I'd also put up a voter gadget, allowing readers a say. So, in the upper left corner, I've added a Question button, What's the Story with Sarah? with various options available.

Please vote -- especially if your view is of the Sarah Be Gone variety.

On the Palin front, you can also check out a few blogs I've recently discovered (along with a few I already read). For regular news updates on Sarah, check out:

Palingates

The Immoral Minority

Sanity Rant - Stop Sarah Palin

The Mudflats