May 20, 2010 06:48 PM UTC

From The "Yeah, Right" Department

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• by: Colorado Pols

We didn’t want to miss this hilarious AP story from yesterday, noted for the record:

In response to criticism from an opponent, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton says she believes Sarah Palin was not aware her Colorado visit would coincide with the state Republican primary assemblies.

Ken Buck said Monday on the “Cari and Rob” show on KRAI-AM that the former Alaska governor’s visit to Denver Saturday could draw attention away from this weekend’s assemblies, which Norton has declined to attend. Norton and Buck are seeking the GOP nomination for Senate.

Norton said Tuesday on the show she doesn’t assume Palin will endorse her and is not reaching out to Palin, but would welcome her endorsement…

Allow us to assert just a couple of things in advance of Saturday:

1. Sarah Palin knows perfectly well that the Republican state assembly is the same day as her appearance with Jane Norton, because she, or least somebody who works for her, lives on this planet. The whole story of her visit revolves around the state convention Saturday, more to the point Norton’s strategic need to upstage it. We are trying to figure out the value in denying something so patently obvious, and so far we’ve got nothing–maybe you can do better.

2. That Palin is going to endorse Norton Saturday, clearly moving to squelch any momentum that opponent Ken Buck seeks to gain from his expected victory at the GOP state convention, is now officially the worst-kept secret in Colorado politics since Westword’s “Top 25 Bill Owens Affair Rumors.” As with point #1, it seems downright silly to keep up this kind of pretense–far better to at least be coy about it instead of saying things people can’t possibly believe are true.

It’s clear that Norton is being firmly coached to smile and stick to the script, no matter what, but sometimes you’ve got to be able to ad-lib–like when the script becomes ridiculous.