It’s hard to imagine it would ever happen — that Gov. Sarah Palin would help pay down some of the campaign debt of Hillary Clinton. But Politico reports not only was a plan hatched, but that the person who tried to facilitate it was John Coale, who Politico describes as a “Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser” to Palin.
Coale is also the husband of Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, whose had some of the most extensive coverage of the Palin family, including the first post-election interview with Gov. Palin, the first post-nomination interview with Todd Palin and the first interview with Bristol Palin after she gave birth. In March, Van Susteren denied that her husband’s ties to Palin helped get her the interviews.
As for the Palin-Clinton plan, Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes:
In conference calls and e-mails with Palin advisers over subsequent weeks, Coale continued to raise the prospect of using SarahPAC to help [Hillary] Clinton, who was once public enemy No. 1 among the very Republicans who are Palin’s most ardent followers.
The Politico story quotes several unattributed sources who spoke out in opposition of the suggestion, including one “dumbfounded Republican privy to the discussion who advocated fiercely against the idea.”
Coale tells TVNewser, “The Politico story puts a weird spin on it. What really happened was that I suggested to Palin that she make a gesture, woman to woman, i.e. make a contribution to Clinton…I feel that the more Democrats and Republicans talk to each other, the less they attack each other. So much for peace making. Maybe it is the media and staff that keeps up the fighting.”
(photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)