The Hill: Sarah Palin racks up two more wins

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At the Ballot Box, The Hill's campaign blog, Shane D'Aprile gives Sarah Palin due credit for helping two South Carolina Republicans who received the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate's endorsements achieve victory in Tuesday's runoff elections:

Palin had endorsed gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and publicly stuck with her amidst allegations of an extra-marital affair. She also endorsed Republican Tim Scott against Paul Thurmond in South Carolina's 1st congressional district.

That makes Palin two for two Tuesday -- she stayed out of the Republican Senate runoff in Utah between Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee. That brings Palin's win-loss record for this cycle to 9-3, according to an analysis by The Hill.

But The Hill's analysis is not quite accurate.

The Beltway newspaper lists as wins for Gov. Palin Senate candidates Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul and Rob Portman; gubernatorial candidates Terry Branstad, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez and Rick Perry; plus congressional candidates Tim Scott and Adam Kinzinger. But our extensive research revealed no formal endorsement of Portman by Gov. Palin, only a contribution to his campaign by SarahPAC, her political action committee. Also, the Palin endorsement of Kinzinger was made in March, the month after that candidate had already secured his GOP nomination. The Hill also overlooked the former governor's endorsements of Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie, so adding those two and subtracting Portman and Kinzinger (at least until the November general election), she still has nine wins.

The Hill lists her losses as Burns, Ward and Bledsoe, but Gov. Palin had also endorsed Doug Hoffman, who narrowly lost in New York's 23rd Congressional District. So she has four losses -- all in congressional races, by the way, where she is more likely to support the underdog. In contrast, Mitt Romney has fared better with his endorsements -- 13 wins and one loss -- but as D'Aprile notes, the former investment banker has taken a more risk-averse approach:

Unlike Palin, Romney has opted to avoid the cycle's most contested Republican primaries. While Palin backed Ward in Idaho's 1st district primary in May, Romney stayed out of the race until after the primary. The day after, Romney made several endorsements in the state, including the candidate who defeated Ward, state Rep. Raul Labrador.

Romney had endorsed Utah Sen. Bob Bennett who was forced off the ballot at the GOP state convention in May.

- JP