Can Sarah Palin and TPX help Joe Miller win an upset victory?

*
Stephen Dinan and Sean Lengell write in The Washington Times that Tuesday will be the last major test of tea party power in the 2010 primaries. One state where that power will be tested is Alaska, where former Governor Sarah Palin and Tea Party Express have thrown their support behind the underdog in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate:

Sarah Palin in Alaska has put her credibility and political clout on the line by backing an unheralded challenger to incumbent and in-state rival Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Mrs. Palin has become a synonym for tea party power, thanks in part to her high-profile endorsements of insurgent conservative candidates. But she is taking her biggest gamble Tuesday when the candidate she has endorsed, Joe Miller, faces off against the better-funded Mrs. Murkowski.

Mrs. Palin has recorded an automated phone message in an effort to bring out voters. She said Mrs. Murkowski, who is in her second term, is the most liberal of any incumbent Republican senator up for re-election this year.



Mrs. Palin also has taken to her Facebook page to urge support for Mr. Miller.

"Our country does not need another Democrat in the Senate voting for the Obama agenda, which is bankrupting us," she said, pleading for her supporters to contribute to Mr. Miller's campaign for a last-minute push.

Pajamas Media has commissioned Pulse Opinion Research to conduct weekly tracking polls on the tea party movement. Results of the Aug. 15 survey of 1,000 likely voters on the PJTV website shows that 27 percent "strongly support" the tea party and 29 percent "somewhat support" the movement, for a total of 56 percent support

49 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to vote for a candidate who has tea party support, while 38 percent were less likely to vote for that candidate.

- JP