Jack Kelly: The Power of Palin

Jack Kelly wrote his syndicated column on NY-23 before the news broke this weekend that Dede Scozzafava was suspending her campaign. Here are some excerpts:

Political soothsayers will be studying the returns Tuesday from Virginia and New Jersey for omens that could predict the outcome of the midterm elections next year. But the race with the greatest national implications is for the House seat in upstate New York because of what it portends for the relationship between the Washington GOP establishment and an increasingly restive base.

[...]

The Washington GOP establishment quickly lined up behind Ms. Scozzafava. The National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her behalf.

But the locals haven't been eager to support someone who is clearly a Republican In Name Only. Hence the candidacy of businessman Doug Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line.

Mr. Hoffman was languishing in third place until he was endorsed by Sarah Palin. That triggered a flood of contributions and a rash of other endorsements.

[...]

The Republican Party may be saved from its "leaders" by the woman they love to hate. The Beltway Brahmins can't stand Sarah Palin because she isn't one of them, doesn't aspire to be one of them, and isn't afraid of them.

If Mr. Hoffman wins, Sarah Palin will deserve the lion's share of the credit. She made her bones in Alaska politics by taking on a smug, corrupt, complacent GOP establishment and beating it.

A larger reform opportunity beckons.

The full Kelly column was published in Saturday's edition of the Toledo Blade.

- JP