Sarah Palin, Party Peacemaker? (Updated)

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Tom Forbes at NW Digest has the Rumor of the Day:

"Highly placed sources have informed me that efforts are underway to have Sarah Palin intervene in the current squabble between former Washington U.S. Senate candidate Clint Didier and Republican Senate nominee Dino Rossi."

[...]

"Didier has declined to endorse Rossi in the Senate race until Rossi agrees to meet three specific demands. Rossi has refused."

Forbes says that the Washington State GOP is working to try to heal the breach between Rossi and the Palin-endorsed Didier. They know that Rossi will need to have Didier's supporters on board to have any chance of defeating incumbent Sen. Patty Murray, a liberal Democrat, in the fall.

Update: U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a friend of Gov. Palin, may be the one selected by the Washington State GOP to ask Sarah Palin to help mend the rift between Rossi and Didier. Both McMorris Rodgers and Didier were endorsed by the governor. This from Seattle website publicola:

Morning Fizz hears that McMorris Rodgers may call Palin and ask her to talk to Didier about endorsing Rossi. Didier, a Tea Party candidate, won about 13 percent of the Primary vote while Rossi got 33.

- JP

It's primary day in Washington State and Wyoming

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Voters are going to the polls today in Washington and Wyoming.

In the Cowboy State, a Casper Star-Tribune survey conducted three weeks ago showed Rita Meyer, who has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, with a narrow lead over her nearest challenger in the crowded GOP gubernatorial primary:

Meyer, the current state auditor, and Mead, a former U.S. attorney, polled 27 percent and 24 percent, respectively, among likely Republican voters. Meyer also led all seven Republican candidates in name recognition (91 percent) and favorability rating (50 percent).

In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Washington State, the conventional wisdom says Dino Rossi will survive to challenge Sen. Patty Murray in November. But 2010 is anything but a conventional election year:

Assuming they do both advance, polls seem to show them as very close among likely voter preference. While the likeliest scenario is that the two most recognizable names in the race do advance, in this Tea Party year, anything is possible on the Republican side. While it is easy to discount Paul Akers and Clint Didier, the strong anti-incumbent, and anti-establishment passion among conservative voters could really hurt Rossi. Dino Rossi, among the Republicans, is the establishment figure, despite never having won a state-wide race (or at least making his one win stick…). Add to that the fact that Rossi is an economic conservative, with a more liberal take on the abortion issue, and Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Clint Didier, and we have an interesting mixture that could bite Rossi.

- JP

A half-million WA State voters will get calls from Gov. Palin for Clint Didier

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Sarah Palin has lent her voice to Clint Didier in Washington State in the last four days of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate:

The Didier campaign says it's hitting about 500,000 voters across the state with a recorded telephone message from Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential nominee.

In the message, Palin calls Didier a "new kind of Republican" and "a true conservative dedicated to our nation's bedrock pinciples of limited government."

She adds: "Unlike establishment candidates who just talk about lower taxes, Clint has signed a pledge to do so."

From the Didier campaign website:

Palin’s May 21 endorsement of Didier was one of her earliest endorsements this campaign season, calling him a “selfless, inspiring commonsense constitutional conservative who will help put our country on the right track."

[...]

Palin also launched a “moneyblast” in July to help raise funds for Didier.

Enthusiastic Didier supporters have also organized a ‘virtual’ phone bank across the state, calling voters with their personal ‘get out and vote for Clint’ messages. “This thing is going viral,” said volunteer Sam Wilson of Snohomish County. “We call them to ask for their vote, and they volunteer to help make the calls!”

“I am so honored that Sarah Palin as well as so many grassroots supporters and volunteers are pulling out all of the stops to bring home this win for the State of Washington,” said Didier.

Voters will go to the polls in the Washington State primary this Tuesday, August 17.

- JP

Sarah Palin to Didier campaign: I'm all in

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Politico quotes Washington Senate candidate Clint Didier as saying that Sarah Palin will return to Washington State to raise money and campaign for him before the GOP Aug. 17 primary:

Didier, who won Palin’s endorsement a week before GOP opponent Dino Rossi announced his candidacy in May, met with the former vice-presidential nominee in Washington state last week and said their teams were working out potential dates for an event.

“She just told me she just loved the campaign: Game Plan for Washington,” Didier told POLITICO Thursday.

“Her exact words were, ‘She’s all in,’” interjected Didier adviser Kathryn Serkes, during a half-hour interview with the GOP candidate and his two top aides.

“They know the urgency. We told them when the primary was, that every one of our counties is an absentee ballot except for one, so the urgency is there,” Didier continued.

Campaign consultant Doug Simpson said the goal is to schedule two events with Palin, one on the populous western side of the state and another in eastern Washington, which is more rural and Republican-oriented.

“She has offered to do it, it’s just a question of dates,” said Serkes.

More at Politico.com.

- JP

WA: Koster campaign fires back at Larsen for anti-Palin remarks

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The reaction of the campaign of Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) to Sarah Palin's endorsement of Republican John Koster was to go on the attack against both Gov. Palin and Councilman Koster. Today Koster's campaign returned fire:

In an amazing display of hypocrisy and hyperbole, Rick Larsen’s anti-Sarah Palin rant in a press release on Monday may have provided voters with a preview of how the 5 term incumbent intends to conduct his campaign against John Koster for Washington’s 2nd Congressional district.

Larsen referred to Palin’s supporters as “radicals” targeting Democrats across the country, and criticized Koster for “opening his campaign war chest to a potential landslide of out-of-state contributions that will fund his campaign to eliminate the help seniors are getting to pay for prescription drugs, privatize Social Security, and protect the lax regulations that led to the BP oil spill.”

Larsen did not mention that 65% of his campaign war chest ($736,671 as of March 31) has come from political action committees (including $1000 from BP), nearly all of whom list addresses from out of state. In comparison, Koster raised $168,717 (as of March 31) with 97% coming from individual donors from Washington State.

“It appears to me that Rick Larsen is suffering from a case of Washington D.C. beltway hypocrisy and arrogance,” said Larry Stickney, Koster’s campaign manager. “The symptoms include condemning your opponent for doing something you are doing, and then expecting to get away with it because you’re an entrenched incumbent with special privileges.”

“If Rick Larsen has a problem with the Koster campaign picking up a few bucks from out of state, he should return the hundreds of thousands he has received from the Washington D.C. PAC’s and special interests from around the country,” Stickney continued.

“For Larsen to beat up on Sarah Palin for endorsing John Koster and call her supporters ‘radicals’ and insinuate that they want to mistreat senior citizens and protect polluters is laughable.”

“This is the same Rick Larsen who ignores the will of his constituents and votes yes for government run health care, yes for the budget busting $787 billion stimulus package, yes for the economy stifling cap-and-trade legislation, yes to increase the national debt limit by $1.9 trillion, and yes on funding the anti-American disaster ACORN. All in all, he’s voted 98% of the time with Nancy Pelosi, earned a “0% rating from the American Conservative Union , and received an “F” from the National Taxpayers Union. Who’s the radical?”

Read both campaign's statements at Sam Taylor's blog on The Bellingham Herald's website.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Koster for Congress, the Work Ethic Washington Needs

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Gov. Palin, who endorsed John Koster earlier today on Twitter, reiterated the endorsement this evening on Facebook:

Koster for Congress, the Work Ethic Washington Needs

I’m happy to endorse John Koster for Washington’s 2nd Congressional District. John is a strong pro-family, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-development fiscal conservative who will work to rein in the excesses of an out of control federal government. He’s just the sort of Constitutional Commonsense Conservative we need in DC.

John’s free market principles are rooted in his real life experience as a business owner of a dairy farm in North Snohomish County. He served his community with integrity and distinction on the Snohomish County Council and in the Washington State House of Representatives. And now he would like to serve in Congress in order to stop the reckless spending before it’s too late. John knows that growing government is not the answer to our economic problems. He wants to return us to a smaller, smarter government that abides by our Constitution and lives within its means.

With a candor and clarity that is so needed in DC, John says: “History and common sense both instruct us that we cannot spend our way out of debt. The most recent bailouts and stimulus packages are a failure. We are courting long term economic devastation and potentially enslaving our children and grandchildren to pay the debt.”

John is running against an incumbent Democrat who is part of the Pelosi/Reid agenda spending away our children’s future. That’s why we need to send John to DC in his place.

Please join me in supporting John. Visit his website www.kosterforcongress.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

John joins other good candidates in Washington State, like Clint Didier, who are ready to shake up the status quo and help put us on the right track!

- Sarah Palin

- JP

Gov. Palin endorses John Koster for Congress

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Sarah Palin announced on Twitter Saturday that she was endorsing former Washington State Representative John Koster for U.S. Congress:

"Proud to endorse John Koster, Congress-WA-2. John's pro-family, pro-business, rock-solid commonsense conservative! www.kosterforcongress.com"

Like many congressional candidates who have received Gov. Palin's endorsement, Koster is considered to be the underdog in the 2010 race for the Second Congressional District. It's a blue district which has been represented by Democrat Rick Larsen since 2001. Larsen beat Koster to win the seat in 2000. Al Gore (2000) and John Kerry (2004) narrowly carried the district in past presidential elections, while Barack Obama won the 2nd comfortably in 2008 by a 56 to 42 margin. WA-2 includes the northern portion of Western Washington State, from the King/Snohomish county line to the Canadian border, including the San Juan Islands.

- JP

Clint Didier: 'We couldn't ask for better support' from Sarah Palin (Updated)

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Sarah Palin and Clint Didier, the candidate she endorsed for U.S. Senate from Wasington State met today in the Tri-Cities area:

"On the way over I wanted to make sure that I had the opportunity to say hello to Clint and tell him how much he's supported," said Sarah Palin, former Vice President candidate.

"We were in Vancouver at the convention and we got the call in the morning that Sarah was going to be here. We've been looking forward for this chance to get together with Sarah, talk about these fundraisers we have coming up and sort of coordinated a little bit. When we got the call in, we were on a plane heading here," said Clint Didier, U.S. Senate candidate.

Palin says she has been following Didier all the way back to his Super Bowl victories. She says there's no doubt in her mind that he's the right choice for Washington, DC.

"Went to his website, read his game plan for America and said bingo, this is what we need and got a hold of him and was honored to get to meet him," said Palin.

Didier says the push from Palin has really helped his campaign.

"Lets just say, the first 24 hours we had 106,000 hits on our website. That's how big it is. It's monumental, its huge we couldn't ask for better support," said Didier.

But the entry of Dino Rossi into the race only days after Gov. Palin's endorsement of Didier has made the Mesa farmer the underdog in the GOP primary race. It's a good thing the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate roots for the underdog:

"Kind of a tough haul in front of him in these coming days because he's up against the political machine, even with the Republican Party we have that machine," said Palin.

The political machine she's referring to is Dino Rossi. But Didier says he not worried.

"I'm truly the grass roots, the campaign for liberty, the Tea Party people and everyone trying to figure out where this movement is coming from. Well the movement is coming from 'we the people'," said Didier.

After their meeting, Didier flew back to Vancouver to speak at the state Republican Convention, while Gov. Palin said she will be heading home to Alaska.



Update: From the Tri-City Herald:

Asked why she chose to support Didier rather than two-time Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, Palin cited Didier's of gamesmanship as a driving factor.

“He knew he had something to offer this great state and our country. He didn’t wait to see what the line-up would look like,” she said.

“He didn’t play the political games that so many others do.”

Palin said she was impressed that Didier wasn’t seeking glory or a spotlight by running — he’s already had that through his football career, which included playing on the winning team in two Super Bowls.

She also believes Didier has the business acumen to make sound financial decisions for the nation.

“He knows it’s a solemn trust to spend other people’s money,” she said. “Clint understands this debt our nation has incurred — is incurring every day — is immoral and is putting our country on a path to insolvency. He knows we’ve got to stop that and put our economy on the track to reverse these trends.

- JP

Gov. Palin is in the Tri-Cities area meeting with Clint Didier

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Sarah Palin is in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state meeting with Clint Didier, one of the candidates she has endorsed. Didier 's tweet about the meetup apparently alerted the local media.

A hand-lettered sign in Didier's booth at the Republican convention in Vancouver explained his brief absence:

11:00 AM Friday 6-11

Sarah Palin made an impromptu stop in the Tri-cities and Clint is flying down to talk to her about fundraising. Clint says "I'll be right back."

Scheduled to return at 3:30

Tri-Cities television station KNDU promises to have an interview with Gov. Palin and Didier on its 5PM and 6PM (Pacific Time) local newscasts.

The governor has family living in Washington State. She endorsed Didier before Dino Rossi, who has run for governor of Washington twice and lost both times, entered the race. He has since emerged as incumbent Senator Patty Murray's main competition.

- JP

Sarah Palin endorses Tea Party candidate Clint Didier (Updated)

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In a new post on her Facebook Notes page Thursday, Sarah Palin endorsed former NFL player Clint Didier, who won two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Washington Redskins:

The Right Game Plan for Victory in America with #86

I’m proud to support Clint Didier as he willingly puts it all on the line to serve Washington state in the U.S. Senate for all the right reasons! This selfless, inspiring commonsense constitutional conservative will help put our country on the right track.

Please visit Clint’s website here, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s get behind #86!

- Sarah Palin

Didier's pro football career spanned much of the decade of the 1980s. He was a tight end for the Skins for six seasons, and also played one season with the Green Bay Packers. He now shares head coaching duties with Wayne Riner at Connell High School in Connell, Washington, where the two led the Eagles to the finals four times, winning the state championship in 2002 and 2009, and taking runners-up honors in 2006 and 2007.

Didier, a Tea Party candidate and libertarian Republican, seeks to dethrone incumbent Democrat Patty Murray from the U.S. Senate. When he's not coaching football and campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Didier runs the family farm he came home to work after the end of his NFL career.

Updates: David Weigel has more on this race, and C4P has a good Didier video up.

- JP

Katie McGuire: Meeting "The Rogue"

Red County contributor Katie McGuire met Sarah Palin at the book signing Sunday in Richland, Washington. A brief excerpt:

"We’re living about 3 hours away from Richland right now, so my daughter Raechel and I loaded up and left at 5:45 to wait in line.We got there about 9, and got in a VERY long line that went around the corner from Hastings, around McDonald’s, looped back around the block, where we got in line. My daughter was quite a little trouper, and we took turns carrying our lunch bag. Hastings opened at 10, so they were able to get people lined up inside the store." 

"As we were standing in line waiting, someone told us Sarah was greeting people from the back of the line..."

Read Katie's full report at Red County.

- Tom

Sleepless east of Seattle

They began lining up at 10 o'clock Saturday morning outside the Richland Hastings store in eastern Washington State. Sarah Palin, whom they had come to see and whose signature they hoped to get inside the covers of their copies of Going Rogue, wasn't scheduled to be there until noon the following day. It's scene that has been repeated at every stop on on the eastern leg of her book tour, and it all begins anew in the West today.

The Seattle Times reports:

By 9:30 Saturday night, some 250 of the faithful were camped outside the store, sitting in lawn chairs, covering themselves with blankets and sleeping bags, warming up with portable propane heaters.

"She stands for what we stand for, which is greatly lacking in Seattle," said Debi Danielson, 54, of Yakima. "Only in Seattle can you come up with a government that has the idea that they know how to do everything."

Identify yourself as being from west of the Cascades — specifically, that liberal city by Elliott Bay — and you will be told in no uncertain terms why they love Sarah here.

Danielson was here with her husband, Dale Danielson, 55, a craftsman who works for the Bureau of Reclamation, doing stuff like fixing fish screens. Also accompanying them was Debi Danielson's mom, Vi Grauman, 80.

"The state should be chopped in half," said the husband, about the eastside/westside political split.

Debi Danielson described the crowd patiently waiting outside in the cold.

"We're conservative. We won't leave a mess like liberals do," she said. "Ever seen the parks after they leave? All garbage."

More here.

- JP

Palin, “Rogue Runners” help promote 5K charity event

Kristin Kraemer reports for the Tri-Cities Herald that Sarah Palin and two dozen of her family members ran this morning in the Turkey Trot, a charity event in Washington State benefiting the Red Cross:

Cheers erupted along the Columbia River this morning as Sarah Palin and her large family of “Rogue Runners” approached the start line for the annual Turkey Trot.

Both fun run participants and spectators who’d been waiting more than an hour in the bitter cold for a glimpse of the former Republican vice-presidential candidate rushed to snap her picture with cameras and cell phones.

Palin, pushing a double jogger stroller, smiled and shook hands as she moved through the crowd, saying “We’ll be in the back.” There, the former Alaska governor and best-selling author signed baseballs, T-shirts and copies of Going Rogue while hugging excited supporters.

[...]

Palin walked up to the start line at 8:43 a.m. and people began clapping and cheering as word quickly spread that she had arrived.

She sported an orange T-shirt with the words, “Alaska Grown.” The couple dozen family and friends that joined her wore the same shirt or a white one with “Rogue Runners, A Proud Family” over a picture of Palin.

Kraemer's full story is here.

- JP

Tri-City Herald On Sarah Palin's Arrival

Sarah Palin arrived in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State last night, and and the local newspaper was there to cover it:

Moments after arriving by private jet Wednesday evening from Orlando, Fla., she told reporters, "It's kind of surreal. But it's really good to be back in the Tri-Cities to reconnect with the roots."

The former Alaska governor's last visit with family here was about a year ago, she said during an impromptu news conference as she held her son Trig and her daughter Piper stood next to her.

"I like the summer here," she said.

Her husband Todd, she added, stayed at home "fixing the roof."

"I need to call him," said Palin, who plans to be in the Tri-Cities through Sunday. She said she's thankful for the safe return of her son Track from Iraq and also for those who serve the country so others can enjoy their freedom and ideals.

She said she is looking forward to spending time with relatives in the Tri-Cities. "I like the wonderful chaos of the family (at Thanksgiving)," she said.

The Herald took lots of photographs of former Gov. Palin's arrival, and they can be viewed in this photo gallery.

- JP

Sarah Palin will run In 5K Thanksgiving charity race

Sarah Palin and about two dozen of her family members will work up appetites for their Thanksgiving meal by participating in a 5K run to benefit the Red Cross, according to an AP report in the Seattle Times:

Heather Filbin with the Benton-Franklin Chapter of the American Red Cross said Wednesday that about 25 Palin relatives had registered for the annual Turkey Trot at Kennewick's Columbia Park.

Family from Washington, Texas and Alaska are gathering for the holidays at the Richland home of Sarah's aunt Katie Johnson. It's something of a small family reunion for the clan and a break for the former governor away from the book tour bus to spend time with family members.

Mrs. Palin will resume the book tour on Sunday, when she will be signing copies of Going Rogue at noon local time at the Hastings book store in Richland. Then it's back on the road again, with book tour stops in Tempe, Arizona and Roswell, New Mexico the next day.

- JP

Former Gov. Palin to spend Thanksgiving in Washington State

Sarah Palin will spend Thanksgiving in the Tri-Cities (Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick) area of Washington State. It's not a stop on her Going Rogue book tour, but rather a respite from the rigors of the road.

According to television station KEPR, former Governor Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, are originally from the Tri-Cities, and Sarah's Aunt Katie lives there. The Thanksgiving gathering will also be a family reunion of sorts, with about 50 relatives expected at Aunt Katie's house.



- JP