Sarah’s rogue run?

From Boston Herald.com: Sarah’s rogue run?
In New Hampshire, they’re still holding out hope for Sarah.

Cheerleaders for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are eagerly awaiting her keynote speech Feb. 11 at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., hoping against all odds she’ll shake up the GOP field and announce a run — for president.

“If she’s going to do it, that’s when she’d do it,” said Warren Rasmussen, the volunteer New Hampshire coordinator for Organize4Palin.com. “If she felt there was really no one who could make a proper case for conservatism, I think she might feel compelled to run.”

Sure, it’s a long shot, but Rasmussen said Palin’s backers will not be denied.

“Certainly she has a large devoted core group of followers who have written in her name in Iowa and elsewhere,” Rasmussen said.

Palin seems to be relishing her role as sideline bomb-thrower while the GOP hopefuls duke it out, demanding just this week, for example, that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney release his tax records and documents from his time at Bain Capital.

So will Palin’s rhetoric hurt Romney?

When Palin visited the Palmetto State in 2010 to endorse Nikki Haley for governor, she shot up from fourth to first place, eventually winning, said Clemson political science professor David Woodard.

“She packs quite a wallop in this state,” Woodard said. “Will they listen to her as they did in 2010? Who knows. Maybe. And if that’s the case, stand by.”

Ballot band

Who had the toughest job during the New Hampshire primary last Tuesday night?

You could easily make a case for the six-member, Bay State-based band Tuxedo Junction, whose mission was to keep Newt Gingrich supporters in an upbeat mood at the campaign’s election-night headquarters in Manchester — in the face of wildly disappointing results that put the former House speaker in fourth place.

The band had readied “Eye of the Tiger” in hopes of a Rocky-esque, David-over-Goliath triumph.

Instead, Gingrich walked on to Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best.”

The nonpartisan musicians — they played a Mitt Romney fundraiser when he was governor, as well as Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s son’s wedding — had strict orders. The Gingrich campaign told them one song in particular was off-limits: Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer.”