Steve Holland: Heady days for Palin in midterm campaigns

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Surpise! A rather balanced analysis from Reuters of the current roll Sarah Palin has been on. It's balanced because it was written by Tennessean Steve Holland, who has been Reuters' man in Washington for 20 years. Unlike the JournoGate hacks, Holland is an old school journalist who deserves the title. Here are some excerpts:

These are heady days for Sarah Palin, who is wielding considerable clout within the Republican Party in the run-up to November 2 U.S. congressional elections.

The conservative, self-styled "mama grizzly" from Alaska, who loves to pick a fight with Democrats and the news media, is branding herself as a national leader of a Republican Party that currently lacks one.

Will she run for U.S. president in 2012? Her supporters would love her to do so, but until she announces a decision, Palin is promoting conservative political allies in the race for seats in the midterm vote.

Consider the case of Karen Handel. She is among Republicans running for the party's nomination to become the next governor of the state of Georgia.

Palin, the former Alaska governor who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, endorsed Handel with a Facebook posting. Then she recorded a "robo-call" telephone message for her that was called out to Georgia voters.

Palin never set foot in Georgia. But the effort she made catapulted Handel, who had been trailing opponent Nathan Deal before the July 12 endorsement. Handel won the most votes in Tuesday's election and faces Deal in an August 10 runoff.

Palin's endorsement of Nikki Haley in South Carolina's Republican primary for governor had a similar outcome. Haley overcame charges of marital infidelity to win the nomination.

"Governor Palin's decision to get involved -- and stay involved - in the race here was a huge boon to our campaign," said Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey.

These political favors doled out by Palin may mean that she will come calling for their support one of these days.

"She's certainly picking up some IOUs," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Holland's full Reuters analysis can be read here.

- JP