Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Candy Crowley
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

She was a high-voltage candidate, lighting a fire in the grass roots of Republican-land - fresh, folksy and fierce.

She famously belittled her party's presidential opponent, Barack Obama, at her coming-out party at the 2008 Republican National Convention:

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

Sarah Palin remains a force - the most recognizable name in the Republican Party, a headline magnet.

Just over a year after the defeat of the Republican ticket, the Republican No. 2 is Amazon.com's No. 1 in nonfiction presales.

Writer of books, giver of speeches, muser of politics on an unusually active Facebook account. And robo-caller on behalf of a conservative group in this year's Virginia governor's race.

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Sarah Palin remains most recognizable name in the Republican Party.

Candy Crowley
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

She was a high-voltage candidate, lighting a fire in the grassroots of Republican-land - fresh, folksy and fierce.

She famously belittled her party's presidential opponent, Barack Obama, at her coming-out party at the 2008 Republican National Convention: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

Sarah Palin remains a force - the most recognizable name in the
Republican Party, a headline magnet. Just over a year after the defeat of the Republican ticket, the Republican No. 2 is Amazon.com's No. 1 in non-fiction pre-sales. Writer of books, giver of speeches, muser of politics on an unusually active Facebook account. And robo-caller on behalf of a conservative group in this year's Virginia governor's race.

A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found 85 percent of Republicans say Palin agrees with them on their most important issues. But only 49 percent of independents feel that way.

It's a telling measure of her political reach - and its limits - that
the Republicans who won governor seats in Virginia and New Jersey this year politely rejected Palin's offers to campaign for them.

Both governors-elect owe their victories to huge majorities of
independent voters. Palin's clout is inside the party. In a New York congressional race, she helped push a Republican Party candidate out of the way for a more conservative one. But with that battle won, Palin lost the war - the split made way for a Democratic victory.

These days, Palin is doing selected interviews, the first this week with Oprah Winfrey, to promote her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," which comes out next week.

Palin is a politician fueled by her celebrity, which is lucrative, but
not necessarily good. "Americans tend not to elect celebrities," said David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. "Arnold Schwarzenegger is the exception, but more often than not, people want something in their political leaders that is more steady, stable, and predictable."

Fans and critics inevitably point to Palin's quitting as Alaska's governor, with about a year and a half left in her first term, as her biggest political problem. "Only dead fish go with the flow," she said as she was stepping down.

It's that kind of rogueness that made her a household name, but in the end may make Palin a player who helps shape the party rather than lead it. Of six Republican consultants interviewed - including four who supported the Palin nomination - all see her as playing a part in rebuilding the party. None thought she would be the next Republican presidential nominee, and only two thought she would even run.

Candy Crowley and David Gergen
CNN Senior Political Correspondents

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

On that unusually balmy Chicago night a year ago, the candidate who campaigned on what he called the "fierce urgency of now" became the president-elect who needed time.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term," Barack Obama told the crowd in Grant Park. And he still needs time to turn a myriad of campaign promises into policy.

The list of the undones is long, varied and mostly difficult - immigration reform, new financial market regulations and a game-changing energy bill.

And compounding problems on the president's lengthy to-do list is that 2010 is an election year, generally an inefficient time for lawmaking.

Obama can put down several major campaign promises as "in the works."

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Candy Crowley
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Candy Crowley and Ed Hornick
CNN

Race and politics are a combustible combo that explodes into headlines when an ex-president lights the fuse, as Jimmy Carter did recently.

"When a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have buried Obama with Kennedy, those kinds of things are beyond the bounds," the Democrat told students at Emory University on Wednesday.

"I think people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African-American," he added.

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President Clinton met Tuesday with North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Long time no blog. Life is the teensiest bit nutty Chez Crowley but I’ve missed you. And I couldn’t pass up a chat about the story du jour (I’m feeling a little French today).

Anyway, so former President BiIl Clinton is on a mission in North Korea to free those two American journalists sentenced to hard labor. My fave part of the story so far is Robert Gibbs (White House Spokesman) saying this is a “solely private mission.” Um. Ok.

You think Washington-speak is Sanskrit? Try diplo-speak. This is how the game plays out. North Korea wants two things a) admission of guilt by the two women. You’ve pretty much seen that along with some mumblings about how everybody is very sorry about the situation from Secretary of State Clinton (not to be confused with mission-head Bill Clinton). You think she talked to him about his “solely private mission”? Me too.

And b) North Korea wants some respect. The two countries don’t have diplomatic relations, and the Obama administration is in no mood anyway. In his first several months in office, the President’s outstretched hand was greeted by two, three or eight –who’s counting—missile launches from North Korea. Provocative, but lame.

So, no “official” US officials are gonna go.

Cue the former President, a big big name overseas, a senior US statesman, an “unofficial” official. In antique dating terms, Bill Clinton’s a “catch” and, importantly to the Obama administration, he’s not in the Obama administration. He’s kind of an administration in-law.

So, the table is set. The skids have been greased.

See all those pictures being beamed out of North Korea? The invisible caption reads “Look How Important North Korea Is”.

I bet you anything we will see those two American journalists free and headed home in the next 24 hours. You didn’t think a senior US statesman would go to North Korea unless he knew he was coming home with them, did you? I hope I hope I hope. Maybe it’ll break in time for AC360.

Gov. Mark Sanford has said it's better for him to keep his governorship to 'learn lessons.'

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has admitted he “crossed lines” with a handful of other women..but "never crossed the ultimate line," which I assume is code for having a Monica Lewinsky-style affair.

Sanford also now admitting to seeing his mistress more than the three times he copped to initially, including at least one tete-a-tete in New York. Apparently this is going to be one of those “evolving” stories.

Anyway, the latest “evolvement” in the Sanford story has prompted the South Carolina Attorney general who really didn’t seem to want to get into this now wants an investigation of any Sanford trip during which he saw his mistress.

Oh—and this: Sanford called his mistress his soul mate but says he is trying to fall back in love with his wife. Do not get me started on this one. All from an AP interview.

Under a separate circus tent, Supreme court of Minnesota has turned back Republican Senator Norm Coleman’s appeal of the counting process for LAST NOVEMBER’S election.

The Republican governor there had said he would sign certification if the State Supreme court directed him to . And now this just in–after fighting for the governorship all these months, Sen. Coleman has conceded.

Bottom line, the Senate is on the cusp of getting its 60th vote - 58 Democrats and 2 independents - who generally vote with the Democrats.

And... the Senate is about to get an actual comedian, as opposed to all the accidental ones up there.

Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, spoke in Vanderburgh County, Indiana Thursday night.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

I'm having flashbacks.

A 5am alarm.

The small cramped plane ride.

A long pell mell trip in a car you only rent because nobody buys them.

Pulled over for speeding (technically this is known as "travel-other: on expense accounts).

Having narrowly escaped the slammer ...TAH-DAH here we are in Evansville, Indiana.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

That's EXACTLY what I said to myself.

Two words, dear reader, Sarah Palin. Major Flashback.

The Governor of Alaska has come to speak to the...deep breath for this.

The Vanderburgh County, Indiana Right To Life Spring Banquet.

It is a very big deal and The Governor of Alaska is a very big deal with them. She agreed to do it, and they sold about a thousand more tickets and spilled over into another room. They love her here.

Elsewhere, not so much.

Let's face it legislatively and personally, the past several months have been....how to put this delicately ...a total mess for Palin. All My Children meets Northern Exposure.

And being in Indiana means The Governor is not in Alaska ( i didn't go to school for nothin) Anyway that really irritates the stew out of some politicians (read this democrats) in Alaska who say she is more interested in promoting her national ambitions than she is in running her state.

Listen-2012 is political light years away. I bet Sarah Palin has no idea whether she'll run, but if you start a political action committee and then trek from Alaska to Evansville, Indiana to put in a cameo appearance before 3,000 anti-abortion activists who help make up the core of the republican party...well, then I think you're thinking about it.

Gotta run she's almost here. I'll have it on AC360° very soon ..

Also, just kidding about that speeding ticket....honest...no, really.

Kinda.

A flash poll taken following the president's speech show most Americans reacted favorably to the speech.

CNN's Candy Crowley explains the significance of one of the alleged reasons behind Sen. Judd Gregg's withdrawal from the Commerce Secretary post: the 2010 census.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

From a Democratic source familiar with Daschle’s thinking… (this is a pro-Daschle person)

Was Daschle pushed? “Things don’t work that cleanly.” (eg: source “doesn’t think” there was direct White House pressure, but couldn’t say absolutely not. Source couldn’t say but knows of no one else who urged Daschle to pull out-say a fellow Senator...as opposed to the White House)

This was “not about whether he (Daschle) could survive but what the (confirmation) process would do to Obama and (health care reform and economic agenda) ”… It’s a question of the “price of that confirmation.”

Did The New York Times editorial calling on Daschle to withdraw from his nomination as HHS Secretary play a part? “He read it.”

“Tom has been a politician for a very long time. He understands this town. He made a mistake, he apologized, but timing matters. There was a critical mass building.” (Questions about the meaning of President Obama’s stated ethics standards).

Daschle going through a messy confirmation would put the President on the defensive and grab unneeded headlines. The (NYT) editorial "re-inforced that this might be a difficult and certainly a distracting confirmation process for a White House that doesn’t have that kind of time.”

Daschle mood? “He wanted to do this. He wanted to move health care. He has spent a good deal of his life, wrote a book on the issue. He wanted to help Obama. They’ve been together since the beginning. This is tough, tough, tough on him."

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Bloggees-

It is 4 am, only 20 hours to go.

I am outside the Capitol building with hundreds of my news compadres waiting for my favorite, most frequent activity, the Secret Service sweep.

I am wearing, in this order, the usual unmentionables, and long underwear, a blouse, a sweater, a wool overcoat a pair of jeans,, two pairs of socks, long fleece-lined UGGS, a pair of "silk" gloves underneath fleece mittens, a wool hat, two wool scarves, all reinforced with foot and hand warmers...

So, I am standing out in the pre-dawn inauguration day hours thinking, "What's the opposite of hypothermia?" I feel like Lucy the time she and Ethel got stuck inside wooden sauna boxes with their heads sticking out.

I would once again ask that you send cheese for this whine, but the official Secret Service rules state very clearly, "No Strollers, umbrellas, thermoses, drink containers, poles for carrying signs, bicycles, knives, guns, laser pointers, pets, alcohol, back packs, big bags or cheese platters."

Inauguration goers were already on the street here at 4, looking to stand in front of the security to get in early when they were up and running.

Travel tip: if you have never seen your U.S. Capital lit up at night or as the sun rises from the East, put it on your list. I guarantee the wow quotient.

Please come.

And now, here I am on the steps of a building built by slaves to watch the swearing in of Barack Obama. Living history.

Guest host Campbell Brown talks with her panel about President Bush's farewell address to the nation.

Editor's Note: Tune in tonight to watch Candy Crowley's report tonight on AC360° at 10pm ET.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Bloggees: You are my New Year’s Resolution.

You, and the downstairs of my home, filled with this heart-hurting timeline of little boys who grew up on me.

Wooden building blocks, games from “CandyLand” to “Risk”
Rubber spiders, snakes, a scorpion paperweight, a whoopee cushion.
A trumpet, a saxophone, drums sticks... Star Wars figures, musclemen
Backgammon sets, cards, poker chips... George Brett and Emmitt Smith posters
Baseballs, footballs, rugby kneepads (I think)
Letter jackets, high school yearbooks, framed pictures of old girlfriends
Diplomas and graduation hats
A Venetian glass chess set from the post-college trip to Europe
And oh Lord, the collections—golf balls, hats, stamps, baseball cards

Including my FAVORITE, the empty beer bottle collection of first born, now married, son. I was thinking of sending the 80-100 bottle collection to the new Mrs. Crowley but, confidentially, I don’t think she totally understands my humor yet.

I want it all, but I am re-doing the downstairs for (if life is good) visits from grown-up boys and (if life is good) their families. So, I need to let it go. I don’t know what to keep.

It got me thinking about how beginning something means ending something else and that part is hard.

Joe Biden said goodbye today on the Senate floor, the chamber he has served in since he was 29 years old, a legislative baby. He was to be sworn in that year on the day his wife and baby daughter were killed in an automobile accident. “As I healed,” he said, “this place became my second family.” I wonder now what it is he can’t bear to throw away, what he will take to link his ending to his beginning.

Hillary Clinton said goodbye today, too, after 8 years in the Senate. It is the place that launched a public career that belonged only to her. It is why she is Secretary of State now. When she walks around her Senate office, what means something? Which of the dozens of pictures and plaques mean enough to put on the wall at her new office? Maybe it’s a picture Chelsea drew.

George Bush is talking to the American people tonight, his last Oval Office speech. Regardless of the country’s overwhelmingly negative views, he too must feel the tugs and pushes of time. In an interview I did with him a couple of weeks ago, he seemed melancholy. This is not how he envisioned his era would end. Is there something from the drawer of his desk that kept him going? Will it take him to Dallas?

The Obamas are moving to Blair House today, just across the street from their new digs as of next Tuesday. I wonder what Sasha and Malia left behind and what they brought with them so they could hold on to Chicago.

Later today, I’ll report on the fight over the stimulus plan and the emergency bail out and how Barack Obama is trying to buy himself some time to fix things.

But this morning, I’m thinking about an unchangeable fundamental of life.

Everybody moves on. But it’s hard to let go of the empty beer bottles.

CNN’s Candy Crowley and Kyra Phillips

Kyra Phillips: Candy Crowley watching I guess this peculiar piece of Americana, right Candy? We were talking earlier on the phone and you said Mr. Obama really has not been the President-Elect since November.

Candy Crowley: This makes it official. In the constitution congress has to do this, and that is count the electoral votes. Listen we all know how its going to come out, let me just take the suspense out, 365 to 173, Barack Obama wins over McCain but this is something they have to do. It looks very much, if you see that picture, it looks a lot like a state of the union address. The president pro-tem of the senate which is Dick Cheney, is supposed to preside if he is not there. We will see Senator Robert Byrd, the longest serving member of the senate. He's from West Virginia. So, it is pro-forma but it is also what makes it legal.

Kyra Phillips: And also, too, I mean, the electoral college, how many times have we had to do electoral college 101 because nobody really understood what it was, now we are looking at it, here it is in action, this is our history, this our democracy at work, so there is probably another little factor that we should probably talk about and that is that faithless elector. And, that could kind of throw a wrench into this process.

Candy Crowley: Is that the best term? I love that- faithless elector. And now we could see in fact that Dick Cheney will be there. I believe that was him going by there. So in any case, faithless electors. There haven't been much of those. But basically, that's someone that doesn't cast his electoral vote the way his state voted. In recent history the last time we saw that was in 1969 when a North Carolina Elector voted for George Wallace instead of Richard Nixon. So there was a big challenge to that and the senate and the house went into their separate places and voted on it, and in fact, that electoral vote for George Wallace was allowed to be cast. So, in order to get any more challenges from those faithless electors, you have to go back to 1877 which we all know is the Hayes/Tilden race.

Panelists weigh in on Roland Burris and Caroline Kennedy's chances of claiming seats in the Senate.