A senior McCain campaign official advises that, despite the gaggle of requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won’t submit to a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local news entities in Alaska, but until she’s ready — and until she’s comfortable — which might not be for a long while — the media will have to wait. The campaign believes it can effectively deal with the media’s complaints, and their on-the-record response to all this will be: “Sarah Palin needs to spend time with the voters.”

Not out of the question are appearances on lighter, fluffier television shows. But — not for a while.

The McCain campaign reported 12,400 people attended the McCain-Palin rally today in Cedarburg, Wis. — though they have a tendency to inflate those numbers.

Nonetheless, I’ve been to McCain rallies recently where the audience was counted by the hundreds, not thousands. In the pre-Palin days, an audience in the multiple-thousands was considered huge.

Now that the lady is on board, crowds approaching — or even achieving — five-figures appear to be the new norm. They still don’t compare to those drawn on a regular basis by Sen. Barack Obama, but it’s a marked improvement.

Scripted campaign events like these could draw many actual voters — and potentially a large number of curious undecideds — in the swing states, where they matter most. So there’s really no reason to put Palin in front of the national media’s klieg lights, where she might slip up.

When the novelty wears off or the crowds start shrinking — that’s when you might see Palin doing some interviews.