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As Sarah Palin relaunches her image for the next stage of her political career, there's a small set of advisers who are shaping the former governor's policy positions and public persona.
The group, a brain trust of sorts, includes Randy Scheunemann, the lobbyist who advised McCain on foreign policy and was one of the architects of the Iraq War, and Kim Daniels, a little-known conservative attorney who specializes in "rights of conscience" health care issues.
While Palin is leaving the door open to a 2012 presidential run, even as her poll numbers look grim, it's not totally clear to what end the brain-trusters -- some paid, some not -- are working.
For now, they are cementing their positions of influence in Palin's world as she sells books, gives $100,000 speeches, and hits the campaign trail for Republicans around the country.
No matter what Palin is planning to do next, it's worth examining who it is that has her ear.
Many of the names we're going to look at were first reported by the New York Times in a recent Palin profile. Here goes:
Randy Scheunemann
The chief foreign policy adviser to the McCain presidential campaign, Scheunemann was a campaign '08 favorite of TPMmuckraker. Classic Scheunemann attack lines from 2008 include this one on Iraq: "Senator Obama seems to think losing a war will help him win an election."
Known for his early and vocal support for the Iraq War -- including as the founder of Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and a longtime ally of Ahmed Chalabi -- Scheunemann brought unwanted scrutiny to the McCain campaign on several occasions, including for his work for the government of Georgia.
He runs a Washington lobby shop called Orion Strategies, and his clients have included not only Georgia, but also the government of Taiwan and the National Rifle Association.
more:
<http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/introducing_sarah_palins_brain_trust.php?ref=fpa>
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