A new Times Magazine profile takes a close look at Sarah Palin and at speculation over whether she will run for president. What do you think of Ms. Palin? Do you think she should run for president in 2012? Why or why not?
In his article "The Palin Network," Robert Draper considers Ms. Palin's status as "arguably the most captivating and influential Republican in America — and therefore a viable contender for the presidential nomination in 2012″:
So I asked her political adviser whether there would be a summoning of the troops in the coming days to discuss what the next moves will be. Davis laughed and replied, "That's not going to happen." Each of them, he said, would simply be doing the work that was in front of them that day, the way things always operated in Palin World. I brought up an ABC News/Washington Post poll taken three weeks before, which concluded that Palin's favorability rating among registered voters stood at 39 percent, while 54 percent viewed her unfavorably and a whopping 67 percent saw her as unqualified to be president. "On a staff level, we all think about ways we can improve her numbers," Davis said. "It's politics — that's our job." But, I pressed, had he discussed the subject with her? "I'm not going to sit around and ask her, 'What do you think of your approval rating?' " Davis said. "I'm just not." Then he added, "Maybe the family's talked about it."
"I am," Sarah Palin told me the next day when I asked her if she was already weighing a run for president. "I'm engaged in the internal deliberations candidly, and having that discussion with my family, because my family is the most important consideration here." Palin went on to say that there weren't meaningful differences in policy among the field of G.O.P. hopefuls "but that in fact there's more to the presidency than that" and that her decision would involve evaluating whether she could bring unique qualities to the table.
Students: What do you think about Sarah Palin as a possible candidate for president? Do you think she should seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012? Do you think she would make a good president? How would you compare her with some of the other potential Republican contenders? How do you think Ms. Palin would fare in a general election against President Obama? ***Write three to five paragraphs explaining your position after you've read the background information and given it some thought.
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