5 months of candidacy to get to the first primary. That is too much time. Ronald took little better than one month. The longer she waits the stronger she gets.
I agree, but Palin is using military strategy to conduct her campaign, and events on the field are dictating what she does, and when.
I have a strong suspicion that the situation on the ground may have forced her to move up her preferred timetable. Notice that she appeared at the Iowa State Fair and sucked most of the oxygen away from the Ames Straw Poll. Now, why did she do that, if not to starve certain competitors of attention? Wouldn't it have been better for her to relax back in Alaska, and let the straw poll blow by?
The clincher, is that she released a superbly done video that looks for all the world like a campaign visual, just one week later, and only two weeks prior to her keynote speech in Indianola. Why would she do that, already knowing that the speculation about her making her announcement on September 3rd has been running rampant since before Ames?
I have to believe that she's shifted tactics to stay inside of her competitors' OODA loops.