Saturday, July 31, 2010

Quote of the Day (July 31, 2010)

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Don Surber at the Charleston Daily Mail:
"Greg Sargent and Politico waste a lot of time mocking Sarah Palin because that is what they like to do — and they blame readers for it. Once again, a liberal refuses to take personal responsibility. What degrades our discourse is a lack of candor. One more thing, is it not telling that 2 years after she burst on the world scene, people still cannot get enough of Sarah Palin? I don’t seem to recall John Edwards, Joe Lieberman or Jack Kemp working up that much excitement 2 years after their failed VP candidacies."
- JP

Rachel Motte: Year of the Mommy Blogger

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In a posting at the The Evangelical Outpost, Rachel Motte figures if 2010 is the year of the pro-life woman, 2016 should be the year of the smart “mommy blogger.” She reasons that the Republican Party's long term success may well depend on today’s politically aware mommy bloggers becoming tomorrow’s GOP political candidates:
Sarah Palin’s popularity is proof that the conservative grassroots are ready and eager to rally around a female candidate from outside the Beltway. And, if the tea party movement continues strong, chances are good that one of today’s young, politically savvy mommy bloggers will be the next decade’s conservative champion.

While the stereotypical mommy blogger is better known for her potty-training rants than for her politics, an increasing number are intelligent, well-educated former professionals who left the full-time workforce in order to raise their children. Advertisers are beginning to realize that moms are among the web’s most influential demographics, and, thanks to factors like the tea party movement, Sarah Palin, and the rise of digital activism, moms are finding it easier than ever to put this newfound influence to use. Sure, some only blog about their families, but many offer a good mix of the personal and political—and they’re not afraid to act on their political opinions. The popularity of mommy blogger gatherings like the BlogHer Conventions proves that they’re willing to learn how to write and act more effectively for a good cause, and it likely wouldn’t be difficult for existing conservative training organizations like the Leadership Institute to expand their recruiting efforts to include conservative moms who blog. Imagine the impact Sarah Palin might have today if she’d spent the past decade learning the ideas and methods that can make or break a leader—and imagine the candidates the GOP might have in ten years if it started training smart, conservative mommy bloggers today.

The digital world provides a unique place for these women, whose unpredictable schedules and need to be centered in one physical space are perfectly suited to online interaction. They also care deeply about the social issues that have kept conservatives and liberals squabbling for decades. This interest is far from idle or theoretical, and they tend to be well-informed about issues that may affect them and their families—a combination that makes them ideal potential activists. While it is difficult to determine whether the “mommy-blogosphere” skews left or right, we do know that online moms are a force to be reckoned with and that their influence will continue to grow.

Mommy bloggers are, in other words, exactly what the Republican Party needs.
Read the rest of Rachel Motte's opinion piece at The Evangelical Outpost.

- JP

Matt Towery Sarah Palin Express steams into Georgia

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In a Townhall.com op-ed, Matt Towery discusses the Republican primary race for governor in the Peach State:
The Sarah Palin Express may be gaining even more steam, at least within the Republican Party. Another of her "Mama Grizzlies," Georgia's former secretary of state Karen Handel, on July 20 emerged from obscurity in the polls to take the most votes in the GOP general primary election for governor.

The feisty Handle now heads to an Aug. 10 runoff. She will face the more laid-back Nathan Deal, a former congressman who served many years in Washington. Deal switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican after the 1994 election, when Georgia's Newt Gingrich engineered his "Republican Revolution" that took control of the House.

[...]

None other than Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the reigning queen of the Republican Party, entered on her personal Facebook page an endorsement of Handel a week or so before Election Day in Georgia.

[...]

Deal, Handel's GOP runoff opponent, hasn't enjoyed such luck. This week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution disclosed a subpoena from a federal grand jury. It was issued to Georgia's revenue commissioner and asked for all documents and information related to a meeting -- a quite contentious meeting -- Deal once had with the commissioner. The topic of discussion was a business relationship Deal and a partner had with the state for many years.

Deal has not been named as a target of the investigation. Nor has he been informed that he is in any way involved with the grand jury's inquiry.

Politically, that may not matter. One can imagine what campaign TV ads the Handel team will produce in the last weeks leading up to the runoff that will utter the chilling words "grand jury investigation."
Read Towery's full TH column here.

- JP

Don Surber: Hope for Palinistas

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Charleston Daily Mail columnist Don Surber finds encouragement for supporters of Sarah Palin in a recent Rassmussen survey which found that a whopping 87 percent of likely voters believe that it is at least somewhat likely that a woman will be elected president in the next 25 years. A clear majority (58 percent) say such an event is very kikely:
Scott Rasmussen had some fun with the poll: “If the choice was between a Republican woman and a Democratic man, 45% of all voters would vote for the female candidate, and 35% would support the male. 20% are undecided.”

A Republican woman would beat a Democratic man by 10 points.

Who could that Republican woman be?
Surber then goes down the list, naming names, here.

- JP

Christian Science Monitor scrapes the bottom for a source

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Conservatives have long insisted that the mainstream media is corrupt, and the JournoGate scandal, exposed through the release of JournoList emails by The Daily Caller, provides plenty of supporting evidence. In the case of Sarah Palin, one of the sure signs of media corruption has been that the mainstream media has been all too willing to trust leftist bloggers as a "news" source. This is one of the many reasons why the mainstream media transformed itself into the lamestream media and is viewed so negatively by most Americans.

The latest example of this symbiotic moonbattery is provided by the Christian Science Monitor. Commenting on the recently unveiled cover of Gov. Palin's forthcoming second book, the CS Monitor's Linda Feldmann writes:
If her first book, Going Rogue, had a red theme – which invited the obvious liberal answer, Going Rouge. This one, America by Heart, has got the gray thing going. Gray sweater, gray background. Even her eyes appear to have been airbrushed to a hazel-grayish shade, perhaps to match her sweater, the Alaska blog Mudflats points out. Her eyes are actually brown.
Feldmann doesn't bother to inform her readers that Mudflats is a leftist blog published by a Palin-hating Democrat operative whose website exists solely for the purpose of trashing the first woman to become the vice presidential candidate of the Republican Party. The blog has not other purpose.

One of the rules of thumb for evaluating what is published by the press is given by the old saw, "consider the source." In this case it applies not only to the mudflatulence of the PDS-o-sphere, but to the once mainstream - now lamestream - media as well. We recall a journalism professor (he was chairman of the department at the time) at the University of Houston many years ago who thought the sun rose with the Christian Science Monitor. He held it up as the pinnacle achievement of all that was fine, professional and noble about journalism. To him, journalism, was a "calling" which he equated with the Holy Spirit moving a man to come to the priesthood. Now the CSM has been reduced to scraping the bottom of the barrel for biased material to uncritically pass along to its readers, and today's "journalists" are a pack of cheap prostitutes. How the mighty have fallen.

h/t: Metal Steve

- JP

Day By Day (July 31, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.

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Support Pro-Palin Day By Day:

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- JP

Friday, July 30, 2010

Quote of the Day (July 30, 2010)

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Don Surber at the Charleston Daily Mail:
"As Sarah Palin continues her campaign for president, she seems to be winning the 2010 primary, which consists of backing the most candidates who win. Rare are her incumbent picks. Even rarer are her picks who lose. The New York Times posted her record at 24-5. That’s a won-loss record at the Sandy Koufax-level... The nation is making a hard sharp turn to the right. Sarah Palin is leading the way."
- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 85

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"Something to Behold" Edition...

Long Beach Press-Telegram:
"Will Sarah run? Does she have a chance to win the GOP nomination? The presidency? More than three-fourths (76 percent) of Republicans think she has a chance to be president, according to the Gallup Poll; 44 percent of all Americans think she has more than a fighting chance. Compare those numbers to Mitt Romney, who is favored by 54 percent of Republicans and 36 percent of all Americans, the poll found. You betcha those numbers are something to behold."
Merv Benson at Prairie Pundit:
"The Palin endorsement is more valuable than campaign contributions this year. It has been the most valuable endorsement in recent memory. Some candidates are going to have to quit ridiculing her and start looking for her support."
Michael Howard Saul at the Wall Street Journal:
"But by the end of the news conference, [Mayor Michael Bloomberg] had made it abundantly clear that he doesn't believe the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee is a racist."
Carmelo Junior at Rebuild the Party:
"While opportunists and cowards like Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich hide, barracuda Sarah Palin is fighting to take our country back and rebuild the party of Lincoln."
Carl in Jerusalem at Israel Matzav:
"Pushing the one Jewish state to indefensible borders in order to force a 'Palestinian' one within it, would make it highly unlikely that the Jewish state will be around much longer short of Mosaic type miracles on which we are instructed not to rely. The 1949 armistice lines - and anything close to them - are not secure borders. Sarah Palin recognizes that. Does Jeffrey Goldberg?"
Vulgar Moralist at Vulgar Morality:
"In plain language, the mass media promoted and suppressed information for nakedly political reasons. Politicians took note, and learned to play the media like a fiddle. The result, so far as the purveyors of mass publicity are concerned, is a situation closer to Old Regime censorship than to the critical observations of the republic of letters. Any who doubt this should consider the stark differences in the media treatment of Sarah Palin and John Edwards."
D. B. Light at Light Seeking Light:
"Liberals and Lefties are far more hateful than people on the Right, and that they tend to nurse their hatred forever. Bush derangement syndrome and the vicious and ridiculous attacks on Sarah Palin were nothing new -- just a recent manifestation of the seething cauldron of venom that is modern liberalism. "
fmaidment at RedState.com:
"The fact is that Handel is Pro-Life, and that GRTL has far-overstepped anything resembling the bounds of decency. Attacking Karen Handel and stating that she’d have supported aborting Trig Palin is no different than the liberal accusation that Trig was in fact Bristol Palin’s son. They have no evidence of the assertion and in fact have contravening statements from anyone relevant involved. Rather than making a statement of fact, Melanie Crozier has taken the low-road to ad-hominem attacks and baseless claims of supporting euthanasia. Look behind you, Ms. Crozier. There’s the line."
John Paulus:
"With Sarah Palin, we not only hear critical things about her, but the media sensationalizes stories about her children. Why? Is Al Gore not trying to impact policy? Was he not the former senior Senator from Tennessee? The two-time Presidential Candidate? The Vice President of the United States for 8 years? The Democrat Presidential nominee who lost becoming President by 350 votes? The Nobel Peace Prize Winner? Can we explain the media coverage of Sarah Palin and her family and the total lack of coverage regarding Al Gore and his massage escapades?."
Roy Peter Clark at CNN International Edition:
"John Kennedy's Harvard dialect created a cottage industry of comic impressionists. At the other end of the spectrum was George W. Bush, whose Bushisms were legion. Opponents of President Obama attack his use of language as elitist, professorial or passionless. In other words, Palin stands in good company. And I stand with her."
Steve MacDonald at NH Insider:
"Hodes found someone he thinks he might be able to beat in the New Hampshire Senate race. Lord knows he can't beat anyone actually running. She polls better than he does, but she's not from New Hampshire, so that improves his odds a little bit. That's right, Paul Hodes is now apparently running for the Senate....against Sarah Palin."
V the K at Caption This!:
"With the mind-confusion rays blocked out, Sullivan was finally able to think clearly. 'Can anyone deny that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy to hide the fact that Trig is a human-alien hybrid bred by the grays and the reverse-vampires in their breeding colony on Galactos IV?'"
Matthew Archbold at Creative Minority Report:
"According to TMZ, Sarah Palin came face to face with a bear and two cubs. And she kept her cool. Something tells me meeting with Putin wouldn't be such a big deal for Sarah."
Common Cents:
"It is well established that conservatives give more to charity than liberals. Despite the popular culture paradigm that liberals are kindhearted and conservatives mean spirited the fact is that it is the opposite. This explains why Sarah Palin and her family gave considerably more to charity (10 times as much) than Joe Biden despite earning considerably less."
Don Surber at the Charleston Daily Mail:
"No LA Times, silencing Palin is not cool."
- JP

Sarah Palin's Pipeline Attracts 'Multiple Bids' in Major Market Test

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The AGIA pipeline, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment, has taken a major step forward Friday in what is seen as a major market test for the 49th State's bountiful reserves of natural gas. TransCanada Corp. announced Friday that it has received "multiple bids from "major industry players and others" to transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to market using the proposed pipeline:
Tony Palmer, TransCanada's vice president of Alaska development, said he's encouraged about the line's prospects moving forward as long as "key conditions" are met.

He didn't specify what those were but said the next step would be for TransCanada to work with potential customers to try to resolve those issues in the months ahead.

[...]

The stakes are high and the interest is intense: A gas pipeline has been held out for years as important to Alaska's long-term economic future, because the production of oil, which is largely responsible for keeping the state running, continues to decline.

[...]

TransCanada, which is working with Exxon Mobil Corp. to advance its plan, successfully bid for an exclusive state pipeline license and the promise of a $500 million reimbursement under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act championed by then-Gov. Sarah Palin.
TransCanada concluded "open season," its 90-day process of seeking shipping commitments for a proposed line Friday and released few details about the bids, as expected. Palmer had cited competition as a reason for the secrecy. A competing project, Denali-The Alaska Gas Pipeline, a joint venture of BP PLC and ConocoPhillips, began its own open season a few weeks ago. But Denali could fall by the wayside if the two companies sign on to the AGIA project, according to sources who say talks which could lead to that eventuality are taking place among the four companies. Although BP and ConocoPhillips had initially not shown much interest in the AGIA project, British Petroleum's recent difficulties in the Gulf of Mexico have strapped the oil giant for cash, and it may decide to join the competing project because the costs would be spread among four partner instead of just two.

Many of Sarah Palin's critics had claimed that the AGIA pipeline would get shelved long before it ever reached Open Season, but with that stage now apparently concluded successfully, she may well have the last laugh.

- JP

Baehr: The Obama Victory Reconsidered

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Two new books from Oxford University Press try to explain the results of the 2008 presidential election. They are The Obama Victory: How Media, Money and Message Shaped the 2008 Election by Kate Kenski, Bruce W. Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power by Jeffrey Alexander. Richard Baehr reviews both for American Thinker, and here are some excerpts which reference McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate:
The question of Palin's readiness might have also been applied to Obama, a man with fancy degrees but a very thin resume on the national scene, running for the top spot, not the second one on the ticket. Speech-making prowess is not the same as governing experience in terms of preparation and readiness for the job. But Obama's experience deficit never really became a major issue, and during the campaign -- particularly during the debates -- he passed the threshold test for acceptability as president.

Alexander... is the first writer I have read to have noticed that during the first two weeks of September, Obama for the first time in the campaign seemed angry and off-stride. After being the "hot" candidate, the object of affection and hero-worship around the country and the world for nearly two years, all of a sudden, Palin was the newer, fresher face, even more dazzling. Obama seemed stressed to be out of the spotlight and not "the one."

Alexander is clearly a liberal, and one who was caught up in the Obama victory (this is apparent in the book's first pages describing the "magic" of Obama's election night victory as Alexander walked in Manhattan with his son). In detailing how the Palin selection gave McCain a jolt of momentum that wore off quickly, he describes the daily drip, drip, drip of stories from the mainstream media, obtained after each organization sent up small armies of reporters to dig for dirt on Palin in Alaska. As a surprise pick, there was plenty of interest in Palin, and there was nothing wrong with reporters trying to learn more about her. But if the Journolist saga of the last few weeks revealed anything significant about the mainstream liberal press, it is their behavior in two time periods in the 2008 campaign -- first looking to protect Obama after the Reverend Wright videos surfaced, and then trashing Palin after she arrived on the scene.

[...]

Alexander never questions why the major media showed so much less interest in Obama's Chicago than they did in Palin's Alaska. Palin immediately came under attack for things said by speakers in her church in Wasilla. Obama had been a national candidate for over a year before Brian Ross produced video of Reverend Wright. These explosive videos were for sale at the church, had the media been interested. Would John McCain have gotten a pass had he attended a racist church for twenty years and sat through Reverend Wright-like sermons?
McCain pollster Bill McInturff had concluded that if his campaign had focused on Obama's connection to Wright, the Arizona Senator may have been able to win the Electoral College, but would have list the popular ballot by an estimated 3 million votes. McInturff actually worried that attacking Wright could result in urban violence, and he convinced the geniuses in charge of McCain's run that the imagined "riots" would undermine a McCain presidency. We can't help but ask which part of "G_D_ America" Team McCain didn't understand.

- JP

Bring it on: Karen Handel's newest ad touts Gov. Palin's endorsement

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- JP

Gingrich says he expects Gov. Palin to run in 2012

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Newsmax magazine Friday that he expects Sarah Palin to be one of the Republican presidential candidates who will seek the GOP nomination in 2012. Here's the story from The Hill's Michael O'Brien:
Gingrich, himself a potential candidate for president, sized up the field of would-be competitors, detailing which GOP politicians he expects to jump into the race.

The field Gingrich listed included: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas).

[...]

Gingrich, asked specifically about Palin, said she'd be a formidable opponent.

"I think she's already a very strong personality and has the potential to be a very strong candidate," he said.

As for his own plans, the former House speaker, who's flirted with presidential bids in previous cycles only to back out, said he'd decide on a run early next year.
- JP

Gov. Palin to stump for Handel in Georgia August 9

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The Handel for Governor campaign announced Friday that Sarah Palin will campaign for their candidate just before the August 10 runoff election. WSB-TV reports:
In a statement issued Friday, Governor Palin said, "I'm coming to Georgia to campaign with my friend Karen because it is absolutely critical that Georgians nominate an ethical leader and a true conservative to take the fight to Roy Barnes in November. Karen Handel is a strong, pro-life leader who isn't afraid to take on the status quo and do the right thing. She will be the 21st Century Governor Georgia needs to tenaciously address the state’s challenges," said Palin.

Palin endorsed Handel just before this month's primaries.

"I am very excited that Governor Palin is coming to Georgia to help our final get-out-the-vote push," Handel said. "The energy and enthusiasm she will bring will make a huge difference in the final push to victory in the run-off election."
According to Fox 5 (WAGA-TV):
Palin will appear in a rally scheduled for noon on August 9 at a location that is yet to be determined.

Members of the general public interested in attending can obtain tickets and sign up to receive more information as it becomes available at karenhandel.com.
Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Handel's opponent in the runoff, former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, reacted to the news with a statement which has the smell of sour grapes about it. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's story:
“The people who know Karen Handel – the overwhelming, eye-popping, vast majority of Republican state legislators – have endorsed Nathan Deal.

“The people who know Nathan Deal – like Speaker Newt Gingrich and Speaker David Ralston and Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams – have endorsed Nathan Deal.

“The people who don’t know Karen Handel have endorsed Karen Handel. We have to give them the benefit of the doubt. They live far away. Maybe they just didn’t know the truth about her liberal record and her efforts to cover it up.”
Liberal? Get real, Mr. Deal. Handel is a conservative, and you're part of an investigation.

Update: Reserve your teickets for the august 9 rally here.

- JP

Sarah Palin returns to 'Fox News Sunday'

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Gov. Palin, who last appeared on the program was May 23, will be Chris Wallace's guest for the third time on Fox News Sunday this weekend (watch the promo at Palin TV):
Sarah Palin joins “Fox News Sunday” to discuss the 2010 midterms, the Obama Administration, and her own political future. Plus, the former Alaskan Governor weighs in on a federal judge’s decision to block some key parts of the controversial Arizona immigration law.
The program airs on the Fox Network at 8 AM Texas Time and repeats on the Fox News Channel at 1 PM and 5 PM.

- JP

KS-SEN: Moran campaign denies political thuggery

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The U.S. Senate race in Kansas is heating up on the Republican side. Rep. Jerry Moran's campaign has denied issuing threats to the heads of two organizations that endorsed Moran's primary opponent Rep. Todd Tiahrt. More from the Wichita Eagle's editorial blog:
Moran spokesman Dan Conston called the allegation “political slime.” But Patricia Stoneking of the Kansas State Rifle Association and David Gittrich of the Kansans for Life PAC both said Moran campaign manager Todd Novascone — a former state representative from Andover — threatened that their groups would be sorry that they endorsed Tiahrt. Gittrich also claims that Novascone said he had a lot of dirt on Gittrich going back to high school. Tiahrt spokeswoman Michelle Schroeder responded: “Kansans should not have to fear Chicago-style threats from Congressman Moran or his staff simply because they don’t support his campaign.”
Sarah Palin has also endorsed Tiahrt.

- JP

Summary of Gov. Palin's Endorsements (Updated 7/29/10)

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Here is an updated list in chronological order, from most recent to earliest, of the 35 candidates (22 men, 13 women) formally endorsed by Sarah Palin for 2010:

  • Col. Rita Meyer for Governor in WY, 07/29/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 17)
  • John Gomez for U.S. Congress in NY-02, 07/28/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Michael Grimm for U.S. Congress in NY-13, 07/28/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate in NH, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Bob McConnell for U.S. Congress in CO-03, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 10)
  • Dr. Paul Gosar for U.S. Congress in AZ-01, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 24)
  • Karen Handel for Governor in GA, 07/12/10 - (Primary runoff election is Aug. 10)
  • Ann Marie Buerkle for U.S. Congress in NY-25, 07/12/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • CeCe Heil for U.S. Congress in TN-05, 07/08/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 5)
  • Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate in KS, 06/24/10 - (Lost Primary election)
  • Tim Scott for U.S. Congress in SC-01, 06/17/10 - (Won primary runoff election)
  • Cathy McMorris Rodgers for U.S. Congress in WA-05, 06/17/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Star Parker for U.S. Congress in CA-37, 06/17/10 - (General election is Nov. 2)
  • Mary Fallin for Governor in OK, 06/17/10 - (Won primary election)
  • John Koster for U.S. Congress in WA-02, 06/12/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Cecile Bledsoe for for U.S. Congress in AR-03, 06/03/10 - (Lost primary runoff)
  • Terry Branstad for Governor in IA, 06/03/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Joe Miller for U.S. Senate in AK, 06/02/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 24)
  • Clint Didier for U.S. Senate in WA, 05/20/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Susana Martinez for Governor in NM, 05/15/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Nikki Haley for Governor in SC, 05/14/10 - (Won primary runoff election)
  • Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate in CA, 05/06/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Tom Emmer for Governor in MN, 04/29/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 10)
  • Tim Burns for U.S. Congress in PA-12, 04/26/10 - (Lost special election)
  • Vaughn Ward for U.S. Congress in ID-01, 03/29/10 - (Lost primary election)
  • Adam Kinzinger for U.S. Congress in IL-11, 03/29/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • Col. Allen West for U.S. Congress in FL-22, 03/29/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • Sean Duffy for U.S. Congress in WS-07, 02/17/10 - (Primary is Sept. 14)
  • Dr. Rand Paul for U.S. Senate in KY, 02/01/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Rick Perry for Governor in TX, 01/20/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Michele Bachmann for U.S. Congress in MN-06, 01/20/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • John McCain for U.S. Senate in AZ, 01/20/10 - (Primary is Aug. 24)
  • Chris Christie for Governor in NJ, 10/27/09 - (Won general election)
  • Bob McDonnell for Governor in VA, 10/27/09 - (Won special election
  • Doug Hoffman for U.S. Congress in NY-23, 10/22/09 - (Lost in general election)
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Gov. Palin's Endorsements by Office and State

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Governor
:

GA - Karen Handel
IA - Terry Branstad
MN - Tom Emmer
NJ - Chris Christie
NM - Susanna Martinez
OK - Mary Fallin
SC - Nikki Haley
TX - Rick Perry
VA - Bo McDonnell
WY - Col. Rita Meyer

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US Senate:

AK - Joe Miller
AZ - John McCain
CA - Carly Fiorina
KS - Todd Tiahrt
KY - Dr. Rand Paul
NH - Kelly Ayotte
WA - Clint Didier

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U.S. House

AR-03 - Cecile Bledsoe
AZ-01 - Dr. Paul Gosar
CA-37 - Star Parker
CO-03 - Bob McConnell
FL-22 - Col. Allen West
ID-01 - Vaughn Ward
IL-11 - Adam Kinzinger
NY-02 - John Gomez
NY-13 - Michael Grimm
NY-23 - Doug Hoffman
NY-25 - Anna Marie Buerkle
MN-06 - Michelle Bachmann
PA-12 - Tim Burns
SC-01 - Tim Scott
TN-05 - CeCe Heil
WA-02 - John Koster
WA-05 - Cathy McMorris Rogers
WS-07 - Sean Duffy

- JP

Sarah Palin endorses Rita Meyer in Wyoming governor's race

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In a late Thursday night Facebook posting, Sarah Palin endorsed former state auditor Rita Meyer in Wyoming's race for governor:
Rita Meyer for Wyoming

I am proud to endorse a straight shooter for Governor of Wyoming. Rita Meyer is ready to put her years of valuable public service to good use in the state’s beautiful capitol.

Before serving Wyoming with distinction as State Auditor, Rita served our nation as a combat veteran of both Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom who achieved the rank of Colonel during her 23 years of service in the Wyoming Air National Guard.

Wyoming is a beautiful, resource-rich, independent state that is ready for Rita. She may not have millions of dollars to campaign with, but she has enough volunteer human resources and is running her campaign the old fashion way – grassroots and gritty! Voters know that Rita has a unique blend of steel magnolia and mama grizzly. Her true grit has not escaped the eye of other Americans who know that at every level of political office we all benefit with commonsense constitutional conservatives in service.

Please join me in supporting Rita by visiting her website at www.ritameyer.com and following her on Facebook and Twitter.

- Sarah Palin
Col. Meyer is one of four major candidates running in the GOP primary. The others are former state legislator Ron Micheli, U.S. Attorney Matt Mead, and Speaker of the State House of Representatives Colin Simpson.

- JP

Day By Day (July 30, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.

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Support Pro-Palin Day By Day:

071210.jpg

- JP

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Quote of the Day (July 29, 2010)

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Doug Powers at The Powers That Be:
"Sarah Palin’s got a new lib-tickling book coming out in November, so I hope the AP fact checkers relaxed after Going Rogue was released, because break time is almost over."
- JP

McMahon Campaign Hits Grimm For Taking 'Jewish Money' (Updated)

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This is bizarre:
Mike Grimm, a G.O.P challenger for Mike McMahon's Congressional seat, took in over $200,000 in his last filing.

But in an effort to show that Grimm lacks support among voters in the district, which covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, the McMahon campaign compiled a list of Jewish donors to Grimm and provided it to The Politicker.

The file, labeled "Grimm Jewish Money Q2," for the second quarter fundraising period, shows a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home.

"Where is Grimm's money coming from," said Jennifer Nelson, McMahon's campaign spokeman. "There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees."

[...]

Reached by phone, Grimm, who is part-Italian, part-German, said he was proud of his Jewish support and said he was disturbed to hear that the McMahon campaign compiled a seperate list of his Jewish donors.

"The fact that a U.S. Congressman would seperate out any group by religion or even by ethnicity is nothing short of outrageous," he said. "This goes beyond politics."
So how exactly does "Jewish money" differ from standard U.S. currency? Perhaps someone in the McMahon campaign can enlighten us.

Sarah Palin endorsed Mike Grimm just yesterday, and apparently not a day too soon. This McMahon character needs to go. Meanwhile, Grimm's opponent on the GOP side doesn't sound like much of a prize either.

Update: Nelson has been fired and is in quarantine under the bus for Foot-In-Mouth Disease.

- JP

On The Border

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Two tweets from Gov. Palin Thursday (here and here) leave no doubt what she thinks of the president's misplaced sense of priorities:
I'm headed to border in near future... let's see how quickly his travel schedule will allow that border visit after all.

President w/no time to visit porous US/Mexican border to offer help to those risking life to secure us,but lotso' time to chat on The View?



- JP

Gov. Palin surpasses two million on Facebook

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Sarah Palin started on her third million on Facebook today. She posted on her wall to thank her supporters:
Sarah Palin Two million! Wow! That's more than some cable news shows. Thank you all and let's keep the momentum!
Team Sarah sent the following email to mark the occasion:

Friends,

You did it!!

Governor Palin's Facebook page reached 2 MILLION supporters just now!

Let's celebrate and donate to SarahPAC: https://www.sarahpacdonate.com/fb

Best,

The Tiny Team Behind the Team

teamsarahhq@gmail.com

Team Sarah Election Center: http://teamsarah.ning.com/page/team-sarah-election-center

Visit Team Sarah at: http://teamsarah.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

- JP

Covered: 'America By Heart'

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Sarah Palin's publisher HarperCollins revealed the cover of the 2008 vice presidential candidates's second book today:
The cover photo for Sarah Palin's new book is a portrait in red, white, blue and gray.

The Alaska ex-governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate is photographed in close-up, wearing a gray sweater and American flag pin, which matches her flag bracelet. Her book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag, comes out in November.
HarperCollins has provided book outlets with this description of America By Heart:
"In the fall of 2009, with the publication of her #1 national bestselling memoir, Sarah Palin had the privilege of meeting thousands of everyday Americans on her extraordinary 35-city book tour. Inspired by these encounters, her new book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, celebrates the enduring strengths and virtues that have made this country great."

"Framed by her strong belief in the importance of family, faith, and patriotism, the book ranges widely over American history, culture, and current affairs, and reflects on the key values—both national and spiritual-that have been such a profound part of Governor Palin’s life and continue to inform her vision of America’s future. Written in her own refreshingly candid voice, America By Heart will include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have moved her-from the nation’s founding documents to great speeches, sermons, letters, literature and poetry, biography, and even some of her favorite songs and movies. Here, too, are portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her deep love of country, her strong rootedness in faith, and her profound love and appreciation of family. She will also draw from personal experience to amplify these timely (and timeless) themes—themes that are sure to inspire her numerous fans and readers all across the country."
- JP

An Email from the Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund

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We recently received this e-mail from the Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund:
How far does your influence go?
Right now, The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund wants to see how far you can help spread the news about this opportunity to help Governor Palin and her family.

Click here to send a note to your friends and family members and see how far your influence spreads across the country.


Using our online tools, you can send a message about The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund to your family and friends. Each person who participates will be added to a map as a pink dot. With your help, we can cover the map with Sarah's supporters throughout the country!

Last month, friends of Governor Palin established The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund to help her alleviate the tremendous burden of her legal fees.
Are you curious to see how many people in America stand with Governor Palin?

Click here to join Sarah's network of support through The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund.

Across the country, thousands of Americans have stepped forward to help relieve Sarah Palin from the burden of her legal fees.

Will you help us spread the news?

Sincerely,

Tim Crawford
Trustee
- JP

Mark Judge: Sarah Palin and the Men of JounoList

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Mark Judge, a Washington writer and author of God and Man at Georgetown Prep, after veiwng the photos of the Men (and Women) of Journolist, had just one question, "Who let the dogs out?":
Andrew Sullivan’s obsessive hatred of Palin goes far beyond the cynicism of a journalist; there is a kind of primordial spasm of rage against something so marvelously lovely, so downright awesome. It’s like that guy a few years ago who took a hammer to Da Vinci’s sculpting of David. The beauty was unbearable! Palin is an archetype that the left does not know how to contain or control: the hot female jock who also happens to be cool. The left hates good-looking Republican women and jocks, so combining the two is like an exorcist hitting a demon with not only prayers, but water blessed by the Pope.

There’s usually one hot female jock like Palin in every school. It’s a girl who is so stunning that even teachers find themselves staring, yet she is too modest to acknowledge her beauty. She plays it down or changes the subject when someone brings it up. It may be because she was raised with good values, the desire to be humble, but it could also be because she wants to be taken seriously as a jock. Palin is a triple threat: a pretty jock who is also incredibly sexy (pretty and sexy are two different things). In high school she was the kind of girl that the school newspaper nerds – the future Journolisters – despised. Pummeled with so much raw beauty, athleticism and sex appeal – and she’s nice, too, g****** her – these fearless chroniclers of reality were left sputtering – and seething.

Beauty also offers some explanation of the left’s dizzy crush on Barack Obama. Sweet Mother of Pearl, they said when he arrived, here we have a beautiful man who is athletic and a liberal. And black. It was a Bizarro World from the one they had known their entire lives. It was a chance at retribution for all the Sarah Palins that didn’t go to the prom with them, for every Saturday night spent playing Dungeons and Dragon, for all those atomic wedgies endured in the locker room. It didn’t hurt that they could indulge their white guilt and puff themselves up with moral righteousness by evoking the last thing they were right about, the Civil Rights movement. It’s no surprise that Pillsbury Doughboy Chris Matthews expressed his love for Obama in sexual terms – “I just felt this thrill run up my leg.”

I’m not surprised that there are no female TV journalists on the Journolist. Most of them are just too hot for the list. And this leads to the one exception to the Journolist troll theory. Liberals female journalists can be hot if they are on TV. In fact, they would not be on TV if they weren’t. But in order to compensate for their hotness – not to mention keep their jobs – they make sure to bring the liberalism extra hard. Soledad O’Brien began as a charming Smurf on the “Today” show; now she harangues America for its racism on her endless series of specials about being black/Hispanic/clubfooted in America. Diane Sawyer started working for Nixon, and now she’s all gushing sentiment and gee-whiz lefty emotionalism. Norah O’Donnell, turbo hot, began as a grunt at Roll Call. O’Donnell lost her composure on MSNBC the day Sarah Palin’s book was released. “We have to find out if Sarah Palin IS TELLING THE TRUTH!” she bellowed.

Poor Norah. She wasn’t the hottest girl in class anymore.
Read the full, funny Mark Judge commentary at The Daily Caller.

- JP

Bob McConnell enjoys boost from Palin endorsement

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Congressional candidate Bob McConnell Of Steamboat Springs, Colorado talked recently to The Pilot, his hometown newspaper, about the boost he has received from Gov. Palin's endorsement in his race against Scott Tipton for the GOP nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives:
Within 10 days of receiving an endorsement from former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Bob McConnell said, he received interview requests from Time Magazine and the RedState conservative news blog, financial contributions from across the country and a huge increase in page views to his website.

“It’s been pretty incredible,” said McConnell, a Steamboat Springs resident running against state Rep. Scott Tipton, of Cortez, for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.

[...]

Tipton holds a huge fundraising lead against McConnell, with more than $204,000 on hand as of June 30 compared with the more than $24,000 on hand McConnell reported July 21.

McConnell implied Wednes­day that the Palin endorsement could narrow that gap.

McConnell said he and his campaign team initially approached Palin through e-mails and phone calls that eventually resulted in outreach from Palin’s staff.

“We worked hard for that, and I pursued that endorsement because she represents values that I respect,” McConnell said Wednesday. “We need conservative, constitutional leaders.”

McConnell said he was in Cortez earlier this month when he got a phone call telling him about Palin’s upcoming endorsement. In a sign of the times, it happened on her Facebook page.

“We watched it go live on her Facebook and watched the almost immediate reaction,” McConnell said, referring to hits on that website and his. “The feedback has been, ‘Wow.’”
Colorado Republicans will cast their primary votes Tuesday, August 10.

- JP

Day By Day (July 29, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.

Google It:DayByDayCartoon


Support Pro-Palin Day By Day:

071210.jpg

- JP

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Quote of the Day (July 28, 2010)

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Joe Fitzgerald at the Boston Herald:
"If you wonder why so many Americans are attracted to Sarah Palin, just take a look at the crowd now nipping at her heels, doing its best to derail her appeal through personal attacks that are scurrilous."
- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 84

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Special JounoGate Edition: "She who must be destroyed VI"...

Curt at Flopping Aces:
"[Joe] Klein would later pass off the words of fellow Journolisters as his own for [an] anti-Palin piece. This is how insidious the Journolist cabal was. They conspired to send a message through all forms of media, and make it in unison so any and all opposition is drowned out in response... How often have we on the right said that our universities are infested with liberal nut professors? Now here is a man [Todd Gitlin of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism], a man who teaches the future journalists of this country, urging all the other journalists to secretly coordinate a specific message on behalf of the Democrat party."
Patrick S. Adams at Liberty's Lamp:
"When Palin's light shined for the first time on the national stage, the liberal media wanted to keep her and America in that darkness that existed before her selection for VP. The Journolist emails show a mainstream media that was dead set on dimming the light that was now emanating from the Republican presidential campaign."
Chris Bounds at Liberty Juice:
"John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-president running mate sent the liberal media scrambling. Attack plans were likely already worked up for Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and other better known potential candidates believed to be on McCain’s short-list, but when McCain surprised everyone and selected the governor of Alaska, a woman with deep conservative values with faith, family, and country it was clear that the left was not ready for that... Think about this – it took two years for this information to reach the public. The damage has already been done. Can you trust them with anything they say now?"
Frank Miele at the Daily Inter Lake:
"To the media elite, you and I are just morons. That’s why everything that happened to Sarah Palin in the 2008 campaign should be questioned... The problem is, when the Fourth Estate works for the chief executive, not for the truth, then what we have is no longer a free press, but rather a Ministry of Propaganda."
FoxNews.com:
"Liberal journalists and commentators on an exclusive web group coordinated ways to discredit Sarah Palin on the very day she was nominated as Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick in 2008... After one member wrote that women should take 'umbrage' at the idea that putting 'any woman on the ticket no matter her qualifications or views' could win them over, Mother Jones' Jonathan Stein urged others to echo that point."
Canadian Sentinel:
"No wonder so many people have been brainwashed into wrongly thinking Sarah Palin is 'stupid' and even much worse. They depend on the likes of such liars as recently exposed via their echo-chamber email listserv 'JournoList', now defunct. It's just the tip of the iceberg."
desertgardens at Sea to Shining Sea:
"It is beginning to appear that some participants in the listserv were going in to active 'non-official' campaign mode, discussing ways to negatively report on Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign..."
Elephant Owners:
"The Daily Caller has released 'journolist' discussing Sarah Palin around the time that she was picked as John McCain’s running mate. What is striking to me is that the discussions sounds like something that happens on the campaign trail. They are simply looking for a way to discredit her in their efforts to elect Obama."
Don Surber at the Charleston Daily Mail:
"JournoList shows that [Sarah Palin] was never given a chance. And the rumor came early enough to set the tone for the coverage... It is hard to make the case that this was a few outlier souls when the majority is silent about the terrible things said about a teenage girl and an infant."
Joshuapundit:
"To be fair, some of the e-mails actually expressed some common decency, like one by Ezra Klein, who wrote: 'By all accounts she’s a wonderful mother, and devoted to her fifth son [sic]. Leave this be.' ... But what struck me about a number of the comments was the sentiment that the chief reason for not touching this was not because it was indecent but because it could be a Republican 'trick' that could backfire politically:The whole sordid saga would be sad and pathetic if these people weren't so inherently dangerous to the whole idea of a free press that [is] supposed to help guard our liberties."
SusanAnne Hiller at 73 Wire:
"But let’s forget about the JournoList for a moment and turn our eyes to another listserv out there in Google. I’m referring to Matt Stoller’s private, invitation-only TownHouse listserv. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Stoller, he’s a progressive blogger-turned-senior policy advisor for Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)... With the embarrassing emails from the JournoList, I’d really love to see the TownHouse emails, wouldn’t you? Especially the ones about Sarah Palin."
Keith Burgess-Jackson:
"Keith's Law... Authoritativeness is inversely proportional to partisanship... We now know why journalism is in such low repute. Many journalists have... decided that they'd rather be players than impartial reporters, either because they're oblivious to Keith's Law... Sarah Palin [commented] on what she calls the 'darkness' and 'sickness' of contemporary journalism. Unlike so many others, she gets it."
Gregory of Yardale at Teh Resistance Blog:
"AIDS-Addled Crackpot Andrew Sullivan claims vindication for flogging the insane conspiracy theory that Sarah Palin is not actually Trig Palin mother, because as it turns out, the left-wing cabal known as Jornolist was flogging the same conspiracy theory. Note: Trig Palin was born April 18 2008. Bristol Palin gave birth to Tripp Palin on December 27 2008. How the Hell did she get pregnant with Tripp before she gives birth to Trig? Or am I just using that silly hatred-for-Sarah-Palin-does-not-bend-the-laws-of-nature logic again? "
Sissy Willis at Liberty Pundits:
"We headed over to Memeorandum to get a bite of what’s getting other bloggers’ panties in a twist... The top story was [particularly] delicious: In the wake of The Daily Caller’s latest Journolist revelations, former Journolista Andrew Sullivan — who’s been waging a long, lonely battle at his Atlantic blog... trying to prove against all odds that Sarah Palin’s baby boy Trig was actually born of daughter Bristol — realizes he’s been thrown under the bus, the object of ridicule by those he took to be his friends."
Brent Bozell at NewsBusters:
"The second liberal self-defense of JournoList was that Klein claimed there was no plan for partisan 'message coordination.' But the Daily Caller showed how no one on the list was really paying attention to that alleged plan. After Sarah Palin was picked for the GOP ticket in 2008, Suzanne Nossel of Human Rights Watch insisted 'I think it is and can be spun as a profoundly sexist pick. Women should feel umbrage at the idea that their votes can be attracted just by putting a woman, any woman, on the ticket no matter her qualifications or views.' Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones insisted the entire Left should spread that spin: 'That’s excellent! If enough people – people on this list? – write that the pick is sexist, you’ll have the networks debating it for days. And that negates the SINGLE thing Palin brings to the ticket,' he wrote. No message coordination there... What’s most shocking is the silence. How many in the 'mainstream' press are publicly denouncing those members of JournoList for their blatant disregard of journalistic ethics? Listen to the crickets..."
Bonus Quote...

Jim Treacher at The DC Trawler:
"The people on JournoList claim they were just social networking, so let’s start calling it SociaList"
- JP

Summary of Gov. Palin's Endorsements (Updated 7/28/10)

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Here is an updated list of the 34 candidates formally endorsed by Sarah Palin for 2010:

  • John Gomez for U.S. House in NY-02, 07/28/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Michael Grimm for U.S. House in NY-13, 07/28/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate in NH, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • Bob McConnell for U.S. Congress in CO-03, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 10)
  • Dr. Paul Gosar for U.S. Congress in AZ-01, 07/19/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 24)
  • Karen Handel for governor of GA, 07/12/10 - (Primary runoff election is Aug. 10)
  • Ann Marie Buerkle for U.S. Congress in NY-25, 07/12/10 - (Primary election is Sep. 14)
  • CeCe Heil for U.S. Congress in TN-05, 07/08/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 5)
  • Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate in KS, 06/24/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 3)
  • Tim Scott for U.S. Congress in SC-01, 06/17/10 - (Won primary runoff election)
  • Cathy McMorris Rodgers for U.S. Congress in WA-05, 06/17/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Star Parker for U.S. Congress in CA-37, 06/17/10 - (General election is Nov. 2)
  • Mary Fallin for governor in OK, 06/17/10 - (Won primary election)
  • John Koster for U.S. Congress in WA-02, 06/12/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Cecile Bledsoe for for U.S. Congress in AR-03, 06/03/10 - (Lost primary runoff)
  • Terry Branstad for governor of IA, 06/03/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Joe Miller for U.S. Senate in AK, 06/02/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 24)
  • Clint Didier for U.S. Senate in WA, 05/20/10 - (Primary is Aug. 17)
  • Susana Martinez for governor of NM, 05/15/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Nikki Haley for governor of SC, 05/14/10 - (Won primary runoff election)
  • Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate in CA, 05/06/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Tom Emmer for governor of MN, 04/29/10 - (Primary election is Aug. 10)
  • Tim Burns for U.S. Congress in PA-12, 04/26/10 - (Lost special election)
  • Vaughn Ward for U.S. Congress in ID-01, 03/29/10 - (Lost primary election)
  • Adam Kinzinger for U.S. Congress in IL-11, 03/29/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • Allen West for U.S. Congress in FL-22, 03/29/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • Sean Duffy for U.S. Congress in WS-07, 02/17/10 - (Primary is Sept. 14)
  • Rand Paul for U.S. Senate in KY, 02/01/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Rick Perry for governor of TX, 01/20/10 - (Won primary election)
  • Michele Bachmann for U.S. Congress in MN-06, 01/20/10 - (Leads in general race)
  • John McCain for U.S. Senate in AZ, 01/20/10 - (Primary is Aug. 24)
  • Chris Christie for governor of NJ, 10/27/09 - (Won general election)
  • Bob McDonnell for governor of VA, 10/27/09 - (Won special election
  • Doug Hoffman for U.S. Congress in NY-23, 10/22/09 - (Lost in general election)
- JP

Sarah Palin endorses Gomez in NY-02 and Grimm in NY-13

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Gov. Palin returned to Facebook Wednesday to endorse two candidates for the U.S. Congress in New York State:
Gomez and Grimm for the Empire State

I’m happy to endorse two more Commonsense Conservatives running for Congress from the great state of New York.

John Gomez, a native Long Islander, is running in New York’s 2nd Congressional District. As a successful business owner, John understands how to incentivize job creation to get our economy moving again. He’s dedicated to reining in the reckless spending in DC and returning us to our core principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. Please join me in supporting John by visiting his website at www.gomez2010.com and following him on Facebook and Twitter.

Michael Grimm, a former Deputy U.S. Marshall and FBI Special Agent, is running in New York’s 13th Congressional District. This decorated Marine and Persian Gulf War veteran took on organized crime and Wall Street corruption as an undercover agent. As a current small business owner, Michael understands that real economic growth comes from the private sector, not government. He’ll represent New Yorkers with just as much integrity and courage as he defended them in the FBI and the Marine Corps. Please join me in supporting Michael by visiting his website at www.grimmforcongress.com and following him on Facebook and Twitter.

- Sarah Palin
- JP

Parsing the poll: NH Senate race (Updated: PPP numbers suspect)

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In his column Wednesday, The Atlantic's liberal-leaning politics editor Marc Ambinder dumps a cold bucket of reality on the left for getting all wee-wee'd up over the latest poll from New Hampshire. "Progressives" are using the survey by Democrat pollsters PPP to argue that GOP Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte is somehow doomed... doomed! because Sarah Palin endorsed the Republican last week.

According to PPP, Ayotte had a seven-point lead over Democrat Paul Hodes in the survey the company conducted in April. PPP polled again over the three-day span of July 23 to July 25, and the Republican is now up by three points. Considering that PPP's methodology has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent, the actual difference between the April and July polls could be as insignificant as six-tenths of a point. As Ambinder reasons:
I don't see the connection, or much actual movement. Logically, one cannot connect any appreciable drop in Ayotte's numbers to one thing that happened so recently; this is the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. PPP covers themselves by modifiers, as in, "Palin's endorsement may well be playing a role in this." Maybe. The poll suggests that most independents -- those famous New Hampshire independents, that 50 percent of New Hampshire voters -- are less willing to vote for a candidate who gets the support of Sarah Palin. That's an interesting data point, but it screams for more information: of Republican-leaning independents, how salient is this belief? And since PPP last polled in April, why isolate Palin's endorsement as the thing that has damaged Ayotte's standing among moderates? Nothing happened for three months, and suddenly Palin makes Ayotte a Mama Grizzly, and suddenly Ayotte's ratings drop? Eh. More information is needed.

Democrats are in a tizzy about this, as anything involving Sarah Palin's interaction with a candidate is like catnip for them. Truth is, New Hampshire might be one state where Palin's endorsement hurts a Republican if you go by the conventional picture that people have in their minds of New Hampshire voters, but beyond that, there's not much to say or conclude. Truth is, Palin has endorsed some winning candidates and some losing candidates, but she's done so carefully, strategically, and more cannily that she's been given credit for. Truth is, as PPP points out, the Palin endorsement might have helped Ayotte among Republicans. It's an open primary and there's no competition on the Democratic side, so plenty of true independents can vote in the GOP contest if they want. So Palin may have an effect. She may not. We don't know, and won't know, for a while.
Ambinder's voice of reason is sure to be tuned out by hysterical Democrats who see their 2010 prospects sinking faster than the Titantic. They are desperate to find any life saver to cling to, given that the latest weekly generic congressional ballot polling by Rasmussen Research shows Republicans up by ten points over the Dems among likely voters.

In Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial primary in Oklahoma, Palin-backed Congresswoman Mary Fallin was victorious in a 25-point blowout of her nearest rival to win her party's nomination for governor. That makes Gov. Palin a record of 10-4 in her 2010 endorsements for candidates in primary, runoff and special elections. President Obama would give his golf clubs for a record like that. In fact, by Ian Lazaran's analysis:
Palin's endorsement in a state that is allegedly a bad fit for her brings just as many New Hampshire voters to a candidate endorsed by her as the number of voters that Obama brings to a candidate that he endorsed in his home state of Illinois.
- JP

First Update
: The same PPP, the pollsters who planted the meme that Sarah Palin's endorsement may be playing a role in what turned out to be very little movement in Ayotte's numbers against Democrat Paul Hodes is now saying that her lead in the GOP primary is "pretty thorough."

On the PPP blog, Tom Jensen reports on some of the poll internals:
She's been able to unite the various factions of the party around her. She's up 48-12 with people who think the party's too liberal, 38-14 with people who think it's too conservative, and 53-15 with ones who think it's the fine way it is. She's the overwhelming favorite of Tea Partiers but she's also up 46-17 with folks who don't consider themselves Tea Party members and 41-10 with those who aren't sure. And she pairs a 43-16 advantage with conservatives with a 48-14 [favorability] with moderates.

Sarah Palin's endorsement has received a lot of attention of late but how important that really is to Ayotte's advantage is unclear. 38% of primary voters say they're more likely to vote for a Palin endorsed candidate to 28% who say that would turn them away from a candidate and 34% who say it doesn't make a difference either way.
Public opinion poll numbers need to be viewed with a critical eye. Most important is the pollster's methodology. What was the size of the sample? What was the margin of error? What are the demographics of the sample, i.e., how is it composed by party affiliation, age groups, and other factors? Did the polling firm weight the same by party affiliation? If so, it is using current statistics or older data? The number of voters who are registered Republicans has been rising since 2009, for example, but some polls are using years-old data which favors Democrats). Was the sample drawn from a sub-population of likely voters or just adults from the general population? Poll results are meaningless unless these questions have been answered. Don't trust any poll which tries to hide this vital information.

h/t this update: roy y


Second Update: Jim Geraghty asked those questions and a few more, and the answers explain a lot about PPP's results. It appears as though PPP should be an acronym for "Patently Phony Polling."

h/t this update: Brian F

Third Update: From a Wednesday editorial in the Concord Monitor:
Public Policy Polling released the results of a New Hampshire survey it conducted Friday through Sunday. The headline on the press release read, "Republican Chances are Good in New Hampshire Senate Race." The release emphasized the low favorability rating of U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, the only candidate who filed for the Democratic primary, and said he is "behind the most popular Republican candidates Kelly Ayotte and Bill Binnie."

But PPP, as the polling outfit is known, also has a blog. There, under the headline, "NH looking more competitive," the first paragraph read: "Kelly Ayotte's seen her appeal to moderate voters crumble in the wake of her endorsement by Sarah Palin and her lead over Paul Hodes has shrunk to its lowest level of any public polling in 2010 - she has a 45-42 advantage over him, down from 47-40 in an April PPP poll."

Look, the last thing we want to do is take these numbers seriously because they don't even purport to measure the primary campaign currently being waged. But even if you do give credence to this hypothetical match-up, it's preposterous to draw bold conclusions from numbers whose variation from April to now could just reflect statistical noise.

The kicker is, the same PPP blog post ends with this: "Numbers we'll release tomorrow on the Republican primary show that the Palin endorsement has certainly helped Ayotte on that front."

No kidding. Maybe Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent didn't read that far. He blogged yesterday under the headline "More evidence Palin should stay inside her bubble." Whereupon a web editor created a link to Sargent at the top of the Post's home page. And so for a while yesterday, one of the most prominent headlines on the website of one of the nation's largest newspapers read: "Poll: Palin endorsement backfires."

Sure it has.
- JP