In Arkansas Palin fails to fill arena and dashes Teabagger hopes of a third party candidate.

In front of a crowd of Republican Party activists and the tea-party movement’s rank and file here on Tuesday night, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin seemed to put a damper on speculation that she might consider running for president in 2012 as a third-party candidate.

Asked what her advice would be to conservatives as the November elections approach, Palin first lavished praise on the Tea Party movement, calling it "a grand movement" and adding, "I love it because it’s all about the people."

But she quickly pivoted to the broader question of whether the Tea Party movement might successfully field its own candidates in national elections, and on that point she sounded far from convinced.

"Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this Tea Party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party," Palin said. "Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you? And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they’re going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: ‘R’ or ‘D’."

Palin said that the Republican platform best meshed with the Tea Party’s creed. However, she mentioned that her husband Todd was not a registered Republican and that the party should be open to embracing independents.

Palin used her 45-minute speech and the Q&A session that featured pre-selected questions from the crowd to sound off on everything from what she called the "snake-oil science" of global warming to politicians who are "addicted to ‘O-P-M’-other people's money."

Many of her remarks were revived directly from the 2008 vice presidential stump, including her repeated invocations of former president Ronald Reagan.
But there was one element that Palin had to contend with on Tuesday that she rarely (if ever) did on the campaign trail: empty seats. Though the Arkansas Republican Party sold differently priced upper-level and lower-level tickets to the event at the 18,000-seat Verizon Arena, less than half of the seats in the lower bowl were occupied, and the entire upper level was shrouded by black drapes.

In the hours before the Palin event began, the Arkansas GOP was advertising on its web site a heavily discounted "$20 ticket special." The dining tables that had been set up on arena’s floor, however, were full with donors who had contributed $175.

You can almost imagine the disappointment the Teabaggers must feel that their queen has betrayed them and decided they must stop screwing around and join a side. And even more dismayed that she has already essentially decided for them which side to join.

So much for the independent spirit that the Teabaggers were so proud of. In the end they turn out to be nothing more than a loosely organized, emotionally driven group whose passion will be drained by the Grand Old Party, and whose votes will be usurped by the very politicians most responsible for their frustration with government.

I certainly hope somebody smuggled a camera into the Verizon Arena, I would really like to see pictures of all of the empty seats. After this dismal showing I bet the next venue will have even fewer asses in the seats.

I think it is time to get the fork ready folks, it looks like Sarah Palin is just about done. She is NOT going to run for president, and her ability to draw a crowd is diminishing by the day. The more that people see of her, the less they want to see of her.