On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

The Iowa Family Policy Center issued a news release earlier this week that raised a few eyebrows. And a piece in the Politico today adds even more intrigue.

The release, issued Tuesday, said the IFPC had invited former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to its Nov. 21 banquet.

Nothing unusual there. She’s in high demand. But the group also added it had begun “soliciting financial support for the event this week in anticipation of the Governor’s potential visit.”

That’s what was unusual. Potential presidential candidates aren’t usually paid to come to the state. Getting in front of Iowa activists is seen as the payoff.

Jonathan Martin’s fascinating story in the Politico today explores the whole business. In it, he quotes some familiar GOP operatives — Steve Scheffler, Ed Failor, Jr., Dave Kochel, Tim Albrecht, etc. — talking about the unusualness of paying a potential presidential a fee to speak in Iowa.

But in the article, IFPC spokesman Bryan English says he is not personally aware of a speaker’s fee.

Yet, the Politico piece says: “At the request of the Iowa Family Policy Center, Team Sarah, a national pro-Palin organization not formally connected to the former governor, has begun raising money among its members in an effort to collect the $100,000.”

As I say, intriguing. Of course, Palin’s visit would be the same night that Vice President Joe Biden is in Des Moines for an Iowa Democratic Party event. An intriguing possibility in itself, as noted earlier this week by Kay Henderson.

The bottom line in this, however, is that it appears unlikely the two 2008 vice presidential candidates will be in the same city, if not the same stage, on Nov. 21. A spokesman for the former governor tells Martin it would be “incredibly difficult” for Palin to attend given her book tour.

Alas. (Maybe)

UPDATE: (2:15 p.m.). The mystery deepens. A Newsweek blog called The Gaggle, reports that a Palin spokesperson, Meg Stapleton, says the former governor isn’t asking for a speaking fee.

Writes Newsweek’s Holly Bailey:: “Meg Stapleton, Palin’s spokeswoman, tells your Gaggler that Palin “has not requested anything” and that she “does not charge people to campaign for them.” According to Stapleton, Palin would instead cover such travel costs through her political-action committee, SarahPAC.

Incidentally, Bailey quotes Stapleton saying it’s unlikely Palin will be in Iowa for the IFPC event.

Here’s a story from the Associated Press that’s bound to turn the head of some Iowa Democrats who’ve been laboring for a public health insurance option.

The AP says a bi-partisan group of senators is “edging closer to a compromise that excludes a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for large businesses to offer coverage to their workers. Nor would there be a provision for a government insurance option, despite Obama’s support for such a plan.”

The AP quotes unnamed sources in its article.

Can’t help but think back to the caucuses when the only real argument about a health overhaul on the Democratic side was whether there would be a requirement that individuals purchase health insurance.

Now, they’re talking about not only dropping the public option but also the large business mandate.

Of course, this is just the Senate Finance Committee, of which Iowa’s Chuck Grassley is the top Republican, but it’s a sign of the way things seem to be drifting.