Hoping to recapture the grassroots energy of last month’s “tea parties,” Republican Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas will host a tele-town hall Thursday that’s being dubbed “Tea Party 2.0.”

The Republican Governors Association said it is expecting 30,000 people to participate in the town hall, which will take place roughly one month after the much-publicized anti-tax tea party rallies held in hundreds of locations across the country on April 15, the tax filing deadline.

Sanford and Perry will each speak for several minutes before opening up the town hall to up to an hour-long question and answer session.

RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers said that while the effort Thursday will be on a smaller scale than the April tea party rallies, it still represents “a great opportunity to mobilize that support.”

Gov. Sarah Palin has signed a book deal with HarperCollins Publishers for what is described as her memoir.
"There have been so many things written and said through mainstream media that have not been accurate, and it will be nice through an unfiltered forum to get to speak truthfully about who we are and what we stand for and what Alaska is all about," Palin said in an interview today in which she announced the deal.

Palin and HarperCollins would not say how much she was being paid. Asked why, the former Republican nominee for vice president said she didn't want to distract from the substance of the book.

"The idea is to focus on the content of the book and what's coming in terms of me being able to tell my story unrestrained and unfiltered," Palin said.

In a Fox News interview, former Vice President Dick Cheney continued to blast away at the Obama administration on everything from bailing out the auto industry to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

He even hinted that he'd like to see another Bush as president.

Said Cheney: "I like Jeb. I think he's a good man. I'd like to see him continue to stay involved politically… I'd probably support him for president."

Harry Reid's no slouch in the fundraising department, with $3.3 million already on hand for next year's reelection campaign, which has thus far drawn lots of press too.

And no viable opponent from the state's battered Republican Party.

Still, in politics these days you can never have too much money, as someone showed last fall by raising $750 million, which is even more than those outrageous AIG bonuses. Now Happy Harry's bringing in Bette. And Sheryl. And some guy named Barack.

Though, demographically, the nation is tilting toward the Party of Government, the GOP must remain the party of free enterprise
, and should follow the counsel of Australia's Robert Menzies, long ago:

"(T)he duty of an opposition … is to oppose selectively. No government is always wrong on everything. … The opposition must choose the ground on which it is to attack. To attack indiscriminately is to risk public opinion, which has a reserve of fairness not always understood."

Rather than debating what the national party position should be on foreign policy, health care, education, or social issues – which the party will decide when it chooses a nominee in 2012 – the GOP should focus now, and unite now, on what it will stand against.

Because of President Obama's appearance and speech at Notre Dame this Sunday, some seniors will not attend their own graduation ceremony and instead join a University prayer service on the grounds at Notre Dame. No indication yet as to how many seniors will forgo the graduation ceremony.

The student group behind this effort, ND Response, has made this wild hollywood style video showcasing their displeasure with Notre Dame and the President. I must say the production value is extremely high and I feel like I'm watching a trailor for some sort of hollywood blockbuster movie.