Some perspective on Gov. Palin's latest endorsements

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Thursday on Facebook, Sarah Palin endorsed Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Star Parker, and Mary Fallin. Some perspective on the three endorsements...

The Spokane Spokesman-Review's Spin Control bloggers were not surprised by the McMorris endorsement:

It’s not a huge surprise, considering McMorris Rodgers was a big supporter of Palin’s when the Alaska governor was named to John McCain’s presidential ticket. They’re both fiscal and social conservatives. And they both have children with Down Syndrome.

And there’s not much danger of having this endorsement blow up in Palin’s face. Although she faces a primary challenge from the right from Constitutional Party candidate Randall Yearout, McMorris Rodgers faces no serious pressure from Tea Party folks in Eastern Washington.

Less than a month ago, Smart Girl Politics described Parker as an underdog with an outside chance of pulling off an upset against her Democrat opponent:

Star Parker is the Republican seeking to unseat two-term representative Laura Richardson in California’s 37th Congressional District. Richardson is a reliably liberal Congressman in a strongly democratic-leaning district comprising parts of Long Beach and Compton. How strongly democratic? Obama won the election in 2008 by a four-to-one margin.

All conventional political wisdom says that Parker can’t win this race in such a solidly Democratic district made up mostly of ethnic minorities, but that was the same political wisdom that had put Grayson and Bennett as shoo-ins just a few months ago. Parker has a few advantages: She has national name recognition as an author and widely broadcast commentator. She is a black woman herself in this heavily black district. She should have the ability to raise sufficient campaign contributions for a professional campaign. And Parker’s opponent Richardson has seen her share of controversy lately, having her sub-prime property in Sacramento foreclosed upon and auctioned off by the bank... Parker could make this a campaign issue. In an era when the nation is going bankrupt with heavy debt, a Congressman who can’t manage her own personal debt should not be put in the position of managing the nation’s finances.

On The Oklahoman's dot-Politics blog, reporter Julie Bisbee of the Oklahoma City newspaper's Capitol Bureau wonders if Gov. Palin will campaign for Fallin in the Sooner State:

Palin for Fallin, it has a nice rhyming ring to it.

Fallin has been active with the Tea Party group, appearing at rallies and other events in the past year. Seems like the Republican race for the gubernatorial nomination will likely come down to name recognition and who can out conservative the other.

Several informal polls of would-be voters show Fallin in the lead of Sen. Randy Brogdon, another Republican seeking the nomination.

If Fallin defeats Brogdon in the GOP primary as expected, she stands a good chance of defeating either of her likely Democrat opponents in the general election, according to the latest SoonerPoll.

- JP