Palin: A presidential contender on LI?

Her appearance Thursday in Woodbury offers Sarah Palin the opportunity to show that she could be a viable candidate for the White House next year, experts said.

Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee, will take questions for one hour from the head of Long Island's largest business group in front of up to 1,000 people. The event, at the Crest Hollow Country Club, is her second here since she and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) were defeated by Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden in November 2008.

Palin hasn't yet said if she will pursue the presidency, though she has admitted considering a bid. Speculation about her future intensified again last week after the hiring of political strategist Michael Glassner to run her political action committee. He helped in the vice presidential campaign and was a top aide to former Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), an unsuccessful candidate for both vice president and president.

"There's enormous potential here to hit the ball out of the park and really leave people saying, 'She will be a serious contender,' " said Meena Bose, director of Hofstra University's Center for the Study of the American Presidency.

"It depends on how she approaches the event," Bose continued. "The setting will largely be cordial, but the audience will be looking for signs that this is someone with policy expertise."

Bose and others advised Palin to use the event, which has already received attention from the national media, to refute criticism that she is unfamiliar with the economy, foreign affairs and other policy areas. After the 2008 race, strategists lauded Palin's ability to energize crowds, but were critical of her difficulty answering reporters' questions.

Palin had spent less than two years as Alaska's governor and 10 years as an official in Wasilla, her hometown, when she burst onto the national stage in 2008.

Referring to the interest of C-SPAN, the Los Angeles Times and others in Thursday's appearance, Stanley B. Klein, a politics professor at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, said it could serve "as the beginning of her campaign for president if she handles it correctly."

Klein, a GOP committeeman in Dix Hills, noted the Long Island Association audience would be filled with potential campaign contributors. ". . . dodging questions will get her no place," he said Wednesday.

Among the topics Palin will be asked about are Obama's proposed budget, the revolution in Egypt, health care reform and the economy. "I don't intend to play the gotcha game," said LIA president Kevin Law.

His politics professor from his days at Stony Brook University, Peter Salins, hopes Palin will address the country's problems instead of repeating criticisms of Obama. Salins said, "She's unique and leaves the impression that she is a radical conservative. But it's not entirely clear what she would do if elected."