The DC: Chuck Heath & Son become sought-after figures in GOP primary races

*
Although Sarah Palin hasn't endorsed a candidate in the Nevada GOP senate primary, Danny Tarkanian has the next best thing -- the backing of her father and brother. According to Alex Pappas, it may help:

Chuck Heath Jr., a 48-year-old schoolteacher from Anchorage, says both he and his dad receive constant requests for endorsements across the country, but grant few. So far they’ve endorsed just four candidates. “Of course, their ultimate goal is they want Sarah’s endorsement,” Heath explained during an interview Wednesday with The Daily Caller.

The Heaths first met Danny Tarkanian during the 2008 election. “Their family got really behind our family, and especially Sarah, and we kind of struck up a friendship that way,” Chuck Jr. said. Tarkanian, son of the famous coach and a former NBA player himself, bonded with the family over basketball. When Tarkanian called to say he was running for the nomination, Palin’s brother remembers, it wasn’t a tough call. “We told him, you worked for us and we believe in what you stand for also — and especially running against Harry Reid, we’ll do whatever we can to get behind you.”

The Tarkanian campaign has been using Palin’s father as a surrogate since last fall. In October, Chuck Sr. made five stops throughout the state for Tarkanian. In November, the retired schoolteacher signed a fundraising letter. In March, he cut a radio ad that’s still on the air today.

The Tarkanian campaign, says spokesman James Fisfis, has “certainly valued the endorsement” – which, while “it doesn’t guarantee any votes,” does “guarantee that you do get attention and people will take a look at your platforms and what you’re saying.” The presence of Palin’s father and son “shines attention on Danny,” he says. “We were able to have events and bring people together. They all wanted to meet and hangout with the Palins.”

Chuck Jr. says he doesn’t know if his sister Sarah will make an endorsement in the Nevada primary, where former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, former State Senator Sue Lowden and Tarkanian are the three leading contenders in a field of nine candidates.

Lowden, who is considered to be the establishment GOP candidate still leads the race with 30 percent, according to a Mason-Dixon poll conducted May 10-11 for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Angle, who has the endorsement of Tea Party Express, has surged recently and is now right behind Lowden at 25 percent. At the beginning of April, before the TPX endorsement, Angle was at a distant 5 percent in the polls. Tarkanian is not far behind Angle in third place with 22 percent.