SARAH PALIN has added more fuel to the rumours that she is planning a bid to run for the Presidency in 2012 by confirming she will appear as the main speaker at a Republican dinner in Iowa on Friday.

While appearing at fundraising dinners around the country is a regular habit for Palin, considered the Republican party’s chief attraction, the location is telling: Iowa, an otherwise fairly small and relatively insignificant state, is the first to hold its caucuses when parties choose their nominations for the presidency.

The appearance, coupled with her continuing fundraising drive through her ‘SarahPAC‘ group, her particularly stylised political action committee – a group usually only set up to get a candidate elected – is tantamount to a full declaration of intent.

Indeed, Palin – addressing a rally closer to home in Anchorage at the weekend, alongside her potential running mate Glenn Beck of Fox News – said she was “supposed to make a big announcement here, Glenn and I together… make some big announcement, maybe about the 2012 election or something,” though no further announcement was coming.

Political commentators believe that a clearer indication of her intentions may come from Palin’s other actions while in Iowa, as opposed to anything she may say in her now highly anticipated speech.

Because of Iowa’s unusually high profile in the primary races, with candidates universally eager to get their campaigns off to a good start, candidates often have to begin courting local support for over a year before the caucuses are actually held.

The caucuses for the 2012 Presidential Election are due to be held in February 2012.