Just when all of the smart people think that they have all the answers regarding former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin , she changes the question.

As I linked to in my update to yesterday’s post, Palin will begin a national bus tour this Sunday.

Palin’s tour, the first of a series of travels that will occur over the next several weeks, will kick-start this Sunday in Washington, when Palin addresses over 500,000 Americans at the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally.

Per the rally’s website:

Rolling Thunder began in 1987 as a demonstration to bring awareness to the plight of prisoners of war (POW) and to those missing in action (MIA). Rolling Thunder originated when four Vietnam Veterans, exercising the First Amendment “Right to Petition and Assemble”, organized the first group of 2500 motorcycles to ride through the streets of Washington, DC. This first Rolling Thunder run was made in an attempt to petition the government to take responsibility for the soldiers that were abandoned after the Vietnam War ended.

Today over 250, 000 motorcycles ride during the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day weekend observance, held each year in our nation’s capital. Rolling Thunder has evolved to be not only a demonstration for the POW/MIA issue but also a demonstration of patriotism and respect for soldiers and veterans from all wars.

The tour will then work its way north through the Northeast. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd will visit other parts of the country later, stopping at historical sites along their route.

Her advisers are not linking details of her specific itinerary, nor are they spilling the beans over whether this is the launch of a presidential campaign. When a reporter asked Tim Crawford, the treasurer of Palin’s PAC, as to why Palin was beginning this journey, he said:

Because she wants to see how this nation was built and get fired up about that.

Palin herself commented on her website that:

I’ve said many times that America doesn’t need a ‘fundamental transformation,’ instead we need a restoration of all that is good and strong and free in America! So, together let’s prepare ourselves for the days ahead by reminding ourselves who we are and what Americans stand for.

Republican and Democrat strategists and pundits are all freaking out. They did not see this coming. Their fervent hope, expressed as a certainty, was that Palin would not be running in 2012, but would instead wait until 2016.

A top GOP strategist, speaking anonymously said:

If [Palin] is doing any outreach at all, it would have to be totally under the radar and not with the traditional activist crowd.

A Gallup poll released Thursday showed Palin with 15 percent among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. The only person ahead of her is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, coming in at 17 percent. According to Gallup, she and Romney have benefited most from the decision by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee not to run again in 2012.

So, while Gov. Palin is rocking America’s political scene, what is the author of Romneycare,  former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doing?

Yesterday, he traveled to Chicago for the dual purpose of raising money and putting together a state campaign team for another Presidential Campaign.

Romney, as he did in 2008, named state Treasurer Dan Rutherford as his Illinois chairman, saying:

[Rutherford] was with me last time around, and made things happen here. This time we’re going to be more successful.

Romney and Rutherford had a lunch meeting with area business owners at Gino’s East pizzeria in the Near North neighborhood.

After listening to complaints about Obama’s horrible economy, Romney proclaimed that Obama has pursued policies that have weakened the economy:

You have ticked off a number of the features [taxes and health costs] that I find very troubling. Business can handle bad news. Business has a hard time with uncertainty.

After they finished eating pizza, Romney sent the remaining pies to President Barack Hussein Obama’s Chicago reelection headquarters.

Asked if the pies actually made it to Obama’s HQ, a campaign source said that they had.

Romney tweeted a photo of a delivery boy heading out with the loot, writing:

Great deep dish at @ginoseast. Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ team.

Before the pizza parlor photo op, Romney appeared at a private fundraiser consisting of about 75 people at the Hilton and Towers across from Grant Park.

After his Illinois visit, Romney will travel to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa.

While there, he will kick-off the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s presidential candidate series on Friday. The Greater Des Moines Partnership is a business group.

Romney plans on spending a lot of time in Iowa:

I’m going to get to see some friends back in Iowa on a pretty regular basis. If this campaign goes forward, why, I certainly expect to do my effort in virtually every state in the nation.

Romney faced a residency challenge, concerning his time in Utah, during his campaign for Massachusetts governor. When asked Thursday if he felt an affinity for Rahm Emanuel, who faced his own residency challenge during his campaign for mayor of Chicago, Romney said:

I wish him the very best. It looks to me like he’s getting off to a good start, working hard. I hope he does a fine job here for the people in Chicago. My residency challenge was one I was able to bat down pretty easily.

How…nice.

Romney will formally announce his candidacy for President in New Hampshire next Thursday, June 2, at a noontime barbecue at GOP stalwart Doug and Stella Scamman’s Bittersweet Farm in Stratham. Both Scammans are former New Hampshire House members. Doug Scamman is a former Speaker of the House.

Ohhh…the excitement.

A 500,000 person rally of patriotic Americans vs. an exclusive barbeque attended by the GOP Elite.

I couldn’t have painted a better comparison if I tried.