Inside Sarah Palin's Compound

Sarah Palin is regularly receiving briefings on domestic and foreign policy from a regular group of advisers and installing a television studio in her Wasilla home to reach Fox News with ease, but to what end? No one knows whether she's preparing for a presidential run, a lucrative position as a media figure, or a party activist. This week she's raising her profile significantly, with paid speeches to the Salina, Kansas Chamber of Commerce on Friday and the national Tea Party convention in Nashville on Saturday, as well as a campaign appearance to boost Governor Rick Perry in Texas on Sunday. According to The New York Times, her closest aides include Jason Recher, a former McCain campaign aide who clashed with his colleagues in 2008 over their handling of Palin. Neoconservative Randy Scheunemann, a former adviser to Donald Rumsfeld, provides her with foreign policy briefings while Republican strategists Mary Matalin and Dana Perino offer her advice as well.