By Michael A. Memoli, Tribune Washington Bureau –
WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin cast a vote Tuesday night for one of the Republican presidential candidates. But for whom?
A CNN producer caught the former vice presidential nominee after she voted in a presidential preference poll at the Alaska district convention in her home town of Wasilla.
While she would not say which candidate was getting her vote, she again said she wants the nominating process to continue — and would not rule out being an option for Republicans in the case of a brokered convention.
“I want more people to have a say in who the nominee should be,” Palin told the network. “I want to see the process continue, more debate about who it is who can bust through the Orwellian Obama rhetoric and pandering that we see in the incumbent.”
Palin stands in contrast to the growing number of Republicans who are eager to see the contest wind down. She said the competition “makes all of our candidates better.”
In a scenario in which no candidate drops out and all four men continue to divide up available delegates, it’s possible that no one has the number required to go into the party’s convention as the presumptive nominee.
Asked if she would be open to having her name put on the floor for the nomination, Palin said: “Anything is possible.”
“I don’t close any doors that perhaps would be open out there. So, no, I wouldn’t close that door. And my plan is to be at that convention,” she said.
Palin’s husband, Todd, has already endorsed Newt Gingrich. Before the South Carolina primary, Sarah Palin urged Republicans to vote for him as well to keep the primary going.
Asked to handicap the race in Alaska, Palin said that Ron Paul would “do very well” because of the state’s “strong libertarian streak.” But she then went on to give reasons why any of the other three candidates could prevail.
When it was pointed out to Palin that Rick Santorum has been performing strongly among evangelical Christians, Palin noted, “Of which I am one.”
