Are you ready for the Sarah Palin bus tour?

A surprise announcement of a national tour starting this weekend: Another sign she's ready to run for president?

Published May 26, 2011 7:48PM (EDT)

FILE- In this Feb. 17, 2011 photo, Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at a public appearance at a Long Island Association (LIA) meeting and luncheon in Woodbury, N.Y. Palin is scheduled for a court hearing on her request to extend a restraining order against 19-year-old Shawn Christy of McAdoo, Pa., accused of stalking the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, her family and friends. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, file) (AP)
FILE- In this Feb. 17, 2011 photo, Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at a public appearance at a Long Island Association (LIA) meeting and luncheon in Woodbury, N.Y. Palin is scheduled for a court hearing on her request to extend a restraining order against 19-year-old Shawn Christy of McAdoo, Pa., accused of stalking the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, her family and friends. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, file) (AP)

Has Sarah Palin dropped yet another hint about a presidential run? Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy is reporting that:

Sarah Palin will set out on a bus tour of the country on Sunday, making stops at symbolic sites along the way.

SarahPAC.com pictures the colorful "One Nation" coach that Palin will ride and announces the trip without at hinting a campaign launch:

The "One Nation Tour" is part of our new campaign to educate and energize Americans about our nation's founding principles, in order to promote the Fundamental Restoration of America.

The site then encourages you to donate to SarahPAC.

The former Alaska governor will begin her tour, expected to last several weeks, this Sunday from D.C. "Members of Palin's immediate family are expected to join her on the trip, which will eventually take her through key early-voting states," writes Conroy.

Conroy, who co-authored the forthcoming biography "Sarah From Alaska," sees the bus tour as a "move designed to propel her closer to a presidential run."

This announcement from SarahPAC comes just 24 hours after news broke that a Sarah Palin movie -- a feature-length, $1 million budget hagiography called "Undefeated" -- will premiere in Iowa next month.

And, as the New York Times noted this morning:

Sarah Palin is fortifying her small staff of advisers, buying a house in Arizona — where associates have said she could base a national campaign — and reviving her schedule of public appearances. The moves are the most concrete signals yet that Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, is seriously weighing a Republican presidential bid.

However, until a formal announcement is made, all the bus tours, movies and bulked-up staff in the world could not allay skepticism that Palin may still opt out of the race and stick with her lucrative current lifestyle talking on Fox and giving speeches for money.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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