Sarah Palin hasn't been getting as much attention lately as a presidential candidate. Maybe that's because people don't think she's actually running. If the former Alaska governor wants to keep up appearances, however, she's going to have to do a better job laying the groundwork in Iowa, that bellwether first-in-the-nation caucus state.

But, looks like she's not doing very well at that either: her operation in Iowa is non-existent. The Los Angeles Times tried looking for it:

Iowa's Palin for President operation pretty much consists of one guy with a computer in Storm Lake and another who is crisscrossing Iowa in a rental car, armed with a laptop and a sunny attitude.

Tell us more about those men with the laptops, are they some sort of beltway gurus? Nope:

With no formal political operation here, Palin's fate right now is in the hands of a California lawyer and "tea party" supporter who has anointed himself her unofficial Iowa state director, and a retired potato chip salesman who is trying to coalesce support for her online. They know each other, but neither is officially connected to SarahPAC, her national political operation.

So the current tally for the Sarah Palin campaign in Iowa is one potato chip salesman who runs the blog Iowans4Palin and a Tea Party lawyer who's been crisscrossing the state on her behalf trying to create a campaign database of supporters. "We're just a network of friends at this point," the lawyer admitted to the newspaper. That doesn't sound too promising.
 

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Erik Hayden