If Palin Ditches RNC, Will Money Follow Her?

Even as she campaigned for Republican John McCain last week, Sarah Palin kept trying to burnish her image as a new kind of conservative and a fighting face of the Tea Party movement, CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

"We need these new Republicans. We need this new blood coming on into the system," Palin told a crowd at a rally for Sen. John McCain's re-election bid last week.

"Sarah Palin has been trying to distance herself from the Republican brand," Ken Vogel, senior reporter with Politico.com says. "It's toxic right now," Vogel said of the party. "Who wouldn't want to be sort of seen as more of an outsider and that's how she's positioned herself."

Politico reported that Palin asked the Republican National Committee to remove her name from the invited speaker list for a fundraiser taking place around the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, a four-day Republican conference in New Orleans.

It was another blow to RNC chair Michael Steele, who this week had to explain his organization's $2,000 bill at a high end L.A. strip club.

And then there's the embarrassing typo on a fundraising letter that sent callers to a phone sex line.

For Steele, losing Palin could mean losing one of the GOP's top fundraisers as midterm elections draw closer, and as Palin possibly prepares for the next big election after that.

"Sarah Palin wants to position herself as an outsider," Vogel says, "and potentially the Tea Party candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination."

Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the fact that Palin asked to have her name removed from the speaker's list for an RNC fundraiser, not to have her name removed from the speaker's list at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Palin will be speaking at the conference.