Politicians are not supposed to spend the money they raise through leadership PACS on themselves -- in fact, John Doolittle got into trouble for paying his wife fundraising commissions out of his own leadership PAC. They're intended to build personal influence by donating to other politicians, and if Palin isn't doing that, it would be interesting to know exactly what she is spending the money for.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/01/28/why-sarah-palin-has-launched-her-new-pac-sarahpac.htmlSarahPAC is a leadership PAC, a fairly common (the Center for Responsive Politics counted 340 of them in the last election cycle) vehicle for pols who want to play on a national stage. Obama had one, as did Hillary Clinton, and all of the leaders of both parties.
They serve two purposes: Leadership PACs give politicians a fund from which they can make contributions to candidates around the country, building political chits for down the line (a sure sign that Palin is gearing up specifically for a presidential run will be SarahPAC making contributions to New Hampshire and Iowa state-level candidates and parties); and the leadership PAC will also cover her expenses as she flies around the country fundraising and campaigning for Republicans, again stockpiling political chits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee#Leadership_PACA leadership PAC in U.S. politics is a political action committee that can be established by a member of Congress to support other candidates. The funds cannot be spent to directly support the owner of the PAC's own campaign (such as mail or ads), but may fund travel and make contributions to other campaigns.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.php?txt=Q03&cycle=2006Politicians collect money for their own campaigns — we all know that. But many of them also raise a separate pot of money, commonly called a leadership political action committee, to help other politicians. By making donations to members of their party, ambitious lawmakers can use their leadership PACs to gain clout among their colleagues and boost their bids for leadership posts or committee chairmanships. Politicians also use leadership PACs to lay the groundwork for their own campaigns for higher office. And some use their PACs to hire additional staff—sometimes even their family members—and to travel around the country or eat in some of Washington's finest restaurants.