Lisa Murkowski’s Palin Problem

Joe Miller is the Republican primary challenger to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was rated No. 5 on the Human Events list of “Top 10 Senate RINOs” (and that was when Arlen Specter was still a Republican). The Aug. 24 Alaska primary is the subject of my latest American Spectator column: 

Any disinterested political observer would be tempted to rate Murkowski a lead-pipe cinch for re-election. The incumbent has only one major problem, and that problem can be summed up in two words: Sarah Palin.
It was Palin, after all, who beat Frank Murkowski in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. And if anyone doubted the sincerity of Palin’s “maverick” stance, those doubts ought to have been erased last month when the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice-presidential candidate endorsed Joe Miller. . . .

Please read the whole thing.

21 comments

  1. The power of a Palin endorsement should come as no surprise in Alaskan politics just based on her thumping of Murkowski in the 2006 (R) primary. I’m uncertain how much more popular she is there from her run with McCain, but I suspect it has risen sharply; which bodes well for Miller.

    The excitement she generates at the grass roots level is also encouraging especially among the Tea Pary contingent, and of course, those of us who may not call ourselves Tea Partiers but do agree and fall in line with many of the stances the Party advocates.

    Personally, for me, she is very exciting, and there is hope she can do for the rest of the country- influencing and moving politics in the Right direction- in like manner as she is doing in her home state.

    BTW, very good and informative piece.

  2. The power of a Palin endorsement should come as no surprise in Alaskan politics just based on her thumping of Murkowski in the 2006 (R) primary. I’m uncertain how much more popular she is there from her run with McCain, but I suspect it has risen sharply; which bodes well for Miller.

    The excitement she generates at the grass roots level is also encouraging especially among the Tea Pary contingent, and of course, those of us who may not call ourselves Tea Partiers but do agree and fall in line with many of the stances the Party advocates.

    Personally, for me, she is very exciting, and there is hope she can do for the rest of the country- influencing and moving politics in the Right direction- in like manner as she is doing in her home state.

    BTW, very good and informative piece.

  3. gg

    Please review the basics of English sentence structure and try again. Your poor grammar and punctuation distract me from understanding your point.

  4. gg

    Please review the basics of English sentence structure and try again. Your poor grammar and punctuation distract me from understanding your point.

  5. gg, your weird hate fantasies involving Sarah Palin, RSM, and shit are truly disturbing. Do the world a favor and seek psychiatric help, or go down a gallon of bleach. Either one is fine.

    too

  6. gg, your weird hate fantasies involving Sarah Palin, RSM, and shit are truly disturbing. Do the world a favor and seek psychiatric help, or go down a gallon of bleach. Either one is fine.

    too

  7. Murkowski certainly represents the Old School, Business-as-usual politics, just like her father before her.

  8. Murkowski certainly represents the Old School, Business-as-usual politics, just like her father before her.

  9. Hey now, don’t pick on poor gg’s English skills, it’s in poor taste!

    Being consistently wrong about absolutely everything is not an easy thing to do in a foreign language. How many of you could manage to be that illogical, irrational, and spiteful in Hindi, for example? Hmmmm?

  10. Hey now, don’t pick on poor gg’s English skills, it’s in poor taste!

    Being consistently wrong about absolutely everything is not an easy thing to do in a foreign language. How many of you could manage to be that illogical, irrational, and spiteful in Hindi, for example? Hmmmm?

  11. @song_dance_man: “The power of a Palin endorsement should come as no surprise in Alaskan politics just based on her thumping of Murkowski in the 2006 (R) primary. I’m uncertain how much more popular she is there from her run with McCain, but I suspect it has risen sharply; which bodes well for Miller.”

    You’re not from around these parts, are you? A burrito could have beaten Murkowski in the 2006 primary. His approval rating was something like 19 percent at the time. He had the worst approval rating of any governor in the country. She won office with 48 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Not exactly an overwhelming mandate.

    Her approval ratings started dropping here with Troopergate, plunged further during the campaign, and kept dropping ever after. Last February, a poll of Alaskans showed that of the 53 percent who think she has a future in politics, only 17 percent of those folks think it’s in the president’s office. Last poll showed her approval ratings in Alaska somewhere around 47 percent. And frankly, those must be all of her friends and family in Wasilla. I grew up here and know lots of people in lots of circles. Haven’t heard one person say anything positive about her since before the presidential election.

    And if you lived here, you’d know why. Most people who are Palin fans love the idea of Sarah Palin, because they don’t know anything about the reality of Sarah Palin.

  12. @song_dance_man: “The power of a Palin endorsement should come as no surprise in Alaskan politics just based on her thumping of Murkowski in the 2006 (R) primary. I’m uncertain how much more popular she is there from her run with McCain, but I suspect it has risen sharply; which bodes well for Miller.”

    You’re not from around these parts, are you? A burrito could have beaten Murkowski in the 2006 primary. His approval rating was something like 19 percent at the time. He had the worst approval rating of any governor in the country. She won office with 48 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Not exactly an overwhelming mandate.

    Her approval ratings started dropping here with Troopergate, plunged further during the campaign, and kept dropping ever after. Last February, a poll of Alaskans showed that of the 53 percent who think she has a future in politics, only 17 percent of those folks think it’s in the president’s office. Last poll showed her approval ratings in Alaska somewhere around 47 percent. And frankly, those must be all of her friends and family in Wasilla. I grew up here and know lots of people in lots of circles. Haven’t heard one person say anything positive about her since before the presidential election.

    And if you lived here, you’d know why. Most people who are Palin fans love the idea of Sarah Palin, because they don’t know anything about the reality of Sarah Palin.

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