Miami Herald: Sarah Palin adds kingmaker to her résumé

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Here are some excerpts from an analysis by the Miami Herald's Alex Leary of Gov. Palin's perfect Tuesday, in which five candidates she endorsed won their primary races:

Two years removed from her breakout as John McCain's running mate, Palin figured heavily Thursday in her home state of Alaska, where she backed a little-known candidate for U.S. Senate now on the cusp of a major upset.

In Florida earlier this week, Palin, 46, played a role in Pam Bondi's victory in the three-way GOP primary for attorney general, offering a surprise endorsement and recording a call to voters.

"She has an electrifying effect on the Republican base," Bondi said Thursday as she prepared to write Palin a thank you e-mail.

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This week has been big for Palin. She recorded wins in Florida (in addition to Bondi, she endorsed congressional candidate Allen West of Plantation), Arizona (McCain) and, potentially, Alaska.

[...]

"Sarah Palin reclaims her Midas touch," read the crawler on CNN.

"She's clearly collected a lot of IOUs," said national Republican pollster Whit Ayres. "The real question is what she wants to do with them."

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"Mrs. Palin is using what she has at the moment," said Janis Edwards, a University of Alabama communications professor who has written about Palin in the context of gender politics.

"What makes it especially interesting is the attention she's drawing to women candidates," Edwards said of Palin's "mama grizzlies."

"Until now most of the attention on women in politics has derived from a more liberal outlook," Edwards said. "Sarah Palin is appropriating the liberal feminism to further conservative interests."

Read the full, unedited report here.

h/t: roy y

- JP