Stacy McCain on Sarah Palin and NY-23

Stacy McCain linked to our post on how Sarah Palin must take Sun Tzu's advice and choose her battles and battlegrounds carefully. Though Stacy and I disagree on one point -- that being that the '08 GOP VP candidate should not burn her bridges to potential sources of the kind of big-money donors a candidate needs to win a presidential nomination -- we agree that she would be a great help to Doug Hoffman in his race in New York's 23rd Congressional District.

Stacy wants to know why Sarah Palin hasn't spoken up for Hoffman. Although a donation from SarahPAC would really help the Conservative Party candidate:

"It wouldn't cost Palin a penny to support Hoffman. All she has to do is issue a 200-word press statement -- or record a 30-second video and put it on YouTube -- and she could make all the difference in the world in NY23."

Such a statement could be posted on the former governor's Facebook Notes page, and it would be an instant sensation among Sarah's 928,739 Facebook supporters (but who's counting?), and the media would give it an audience of millions more. As she said after she announced her intention to resign as Alaska's governor:

"I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation."

Here's her chance. Doug Hoffman fits that definition, and any help Sarah Palin would give him "could make a huge difference in the NY23 special election, and everybody knows it," as Stacy points out. The Other McCain is also correct that time is running out on Hoffman's chances:

"We are 17 days from Nov. 3. Every minute counts..."

We know that Sarah Palin is busy, working with her publisher to plan her book tour, and she has a new 527 non-profit to roll out. Still, it seems likely that she should be able to find a few minutes in her time budget to post an endorsement of Doug Hoffman on Facebook.

What we don't know, and what Stacy apparently hasn't investigated, is whether Hoffman or his team have asked for Sarah Palin's assistance. We don't see her interjecting herself into the battle in NY-23 uninvited. But by the same token, we can't imagine why former Governor Palin would withhold her endorsement or SarahPAC dollars if only Hoffman's campaign lets her know that they want it.

- JP