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Anne, thanks for sending me to Jane Mayer's New Yorker essay "The Insiders." My lasting image from the piece is one of Gov. Palin hijacking two boatloads of conservative pundits and charming them with her wiles. This is the quick study Sarah Barracuda whom Alaskans know and love.
In June 2007, a shipful of opinion makers on a Weekly Standard cruise docked for a day in Juneau. In office only six months, Palin invited William Kristol, Fred Barnes, and Michael Gerson along with their families to a "high spirited" lunch at the governor's mansion. Mayer reports, "everyone was charmed when the Governor's small daughter Piper popped in." After lunch, Palin took her guests for a quick hop (by air) to visit a genuine Alaska gold mine. Ore was not the only thing twinkling. Gerson's impression of the hostess was "a mix between Annie Oakley and Joan of Arc." A "dazzled" Barnes told Mayer he found his new acquaintance "exceptionally pretty" and returned home to write her first national profile "The Most Popular Governor." Later, a besotted Kristol, who spoke of her on-air as "my heartthrob," ardently positioned her for the VP pick.
Weeks after the successful party, the new-as-snow governor intercepted another luxury fundraising tour, sponsored by the National Review. Palin threw a "special reception" at the mansion for the cruise's powerful "guest speakers" (check out this year's lineup here). The perhaps slightly bored pundits (magazine publisher Jack Fowler recalls, "There's only so much you can do in Juneau") happily attended the party and were equally impressed with their host. Fowler: "This lady is something special. She connects. She's genuine. She doesn't look like what you'd expect." Another NR editor later described the governor as "a former beauty-pageant contestant, and a real honey, too." One guest, historian Victor Davis Hansen, told Mayer he "was delighted that Palin described herself as a fan of history, and as a reader of National Review's Web site, for which he writes regularly." The novice governor and notorious horn dog Dick Morris also made a "meaningful connection." The strategist, who once advised a previous ambitious governor, told Palin to hang onto her "outsider cred."