Former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin — last year's Republican vice-presidential candidate — is coming to New Mexico next month, but state GOP gubernatorial contenders aren't exactly lining up to greet her.

Palin is scheduled to appear Dec. 1 for a book signing of her just-released autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, at Hastings Books Music & Videos in Roswell.

She's on a national promotional tour that has included network TV appearances. Several national news organizations have noted that she's skipping big metropolitan areas for her personal appearances, instead hitting small towns and midsize cities, which tend to be more conservative.

Some pundits believe the book tour is actually the start of a 2012 Palin presidential candidacy.

While Palin is extremely popular with the GOP's conservative base, she is controversial even within her own party. A poll this week by CBS News showed Palin had a tepid 52 percent favorability rating among Republicans polled. Sixteen percent said their view was unfavorable, while 32 percent said they didn't know or "hadn't heard enough" — despite the amount of media attention Palin has received since John McCain chose her for his running mate last year.

The same CBS poll showed 44 percent of Republicans wanted Palin to run for president but 48 percent did not want her to run.

A spokesman for GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner — a self-described moderate Republican — when asked Tuesday about whether Turner would attend the Roswell book signing said, "We've not been invited to participate in the Sarah Palin book tour, so Doug won't be on hand. I haven't looked at his schedule for early December, but he will probably be out shaking hands across the state on a tour of his own." Asked if he'd be seeking Palin's support in the primary, spokesman Zack Ireland said, "Probably not — with no disrespect to Sarah or her fans."

A campaign spokesman for Susana Martinez also said his candidate won't be in Roswell on Dec. 1. "Susana is going to be working in Cruces that entire week." As far as seeking Palin's support in the governor's race, Jamie Estrada said Tuesday, "Susana is focused on earning the support of New Mexicans as demonstrated by the endorsements she has recently received from people like (Bernalillo Country Sheriff) Darren White and other elected officials."

A spokesman for the Janice Arnold-Jones campaign said Tuesday that Arnold-Jones was campaigning in Grant County, and he hadn't been able to reach her.

A spokesman for candidate Allen Weh did not respond by press time to a request for comment.

The state Democratic Party was fast to respond to Palin's New Mexico appearance.

"As the Republican candidates for Governor compete with one another for attention and to be the most right-wing, you have to imagine that they're aggressively courting Sarah Palin's endorsement," Josh Geise, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said in a written statement. "Palin's upcoming visit presents a perfect opportunity for the Republican candidates for Governor to say whether they'd accept her endorsement or refuse it and stand with mainstream New Mexico families."

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.