At last: Ayotte declared the winner in New Hampshire

*
The slow-as-molasses-in winter ballot count has finally progressed to the point where New Hampshire's secretary of state has certified Kelly Ayotte as the winner of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, according to the Associated Press:

Ayotte was endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and won a narrow victory over Ovide Lamontagne. His conservative credentials and courting of the tea party pulled him close in the final days of the campaign.

Lamontagne has until 5 p.m. to decide whether he'll seek a recount because the margin of victory fell within 1.5 percent of the total votes cast.

The official margin of victory for Ayotte, who had Sarah Palin's endorsement, was 1,667 votes. The Union Leader reports that Ayotte received 53,044 votes to Lamontagne's 51,377.

Now the former state Attorney general will face U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Update: There will be no recount. Ovide Lamontagne has graciously conceded.

- JP

Patten: Christine O’Donnell Credits Gov. Palin in Victory Speech

*

Christine O’Donnell gave special credit to Gov. Sarah Palin in her victory speech Tuesday night:

“You betcha!” an ebullient O’Donnell told cheering supporters, using a Palin catch phrase. “There’s another woman I’ve gotta thank, you betcha!

When the cheering crowd subsided, O’Donnell continued: “Thank you governor Palin for your endorsement. Because she got behind us war-weary folks, and gave us a boost of encouragement when we needed it.

“And she was a vote against the politics of personal destruction,” O’Donnell told the enthusiastic throng.

On Sept. 9 a Palin post on her Facebook page drew national attention to O'Donnell's campaign, stating: "A wave of positive change can really sweep across our land with the election of constitutional conservatives who promise to use common sense, and rein in the federal government spending. Please support Christine O'Donnell of Delaware."

- JP

Palin-Backed O'Donnell Wins Upset in Delaware

*
From the Associated Press:

Conservative activist Christine O'Donnell earned a stunning victory in Delaware's Republican Senate primary Tuesday, riding a wave of tea party anger and advertising dollars to oust U.S. Rep. Michael Castle.

O'Donnell's shocking win gave new energy to the tea party movement, which targeted Castle after victories by Republican tea party candidates in the Alaska and Nevada Senate primaries.

With all precincts reporting, O'Donnell won 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Castle, who was rejected by Delaware Republicans as being too liberal, just like the crowd in Washington DC who are running the country into the ground.

The AP piece goes on with the oft-repeated government-controlled liberal media meme about what a hard time O'Donnell will have defeating Democrat Chris Coons in November and how this result means that the Republicans won't be able to take back the Senate in 2010, yada, yada, yada. We'll just have to see about that.

Meanwhile, it's a great victory for the O'Donnell campaign, Gov. Palin and the Tea Party movement.

- JP

Morrissey: Decision day in New Hampshire

*
An excerpt from Captain Ed's Hot Air op-ed on today's New Hampshire GOP primary:

With all of the heat and light on Delaware today, some may be forgiven for missing the well-contested primary in New Hampshire that concludes today, for the open Senate seat vacated by Judd Gregg’s retirement. Despite the apparent late entry of Democrat Paul “Hot Dog” Hodes, the race actually includes Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, attorney Ovide Lamontagne, and businessman Bill Binnie. Ayotte got an early endorsement from Sarah Palin, but the Tea Party lined up behind Lamontagne, and the race has become tight between the two, close to a virtual tie according to the Union Leader poll yesterday.

[...]

Unlike Delaware, Granite State voters have a choice of two good candidates in this race. Lamontagne toured Blogger Row at CPAC and was impressive. Ayotte, however... has good polling against Hodes; Rasmussen shows Ayotte up 13 in a head-to-head race, although that was from five weeks ago. They didn’t poll Lamontagne in the survey, so it’s impossible to see how he would do against the two-term Congressman. Binnie beat Hodes by six, but as the Union-Leader reports, Binnie has fallen far off the pace in the last few weeks.

In this circumstance, either of the two Republican front runners would probably do well. Ayotte would be the safer pick and has better fundraising success for the general election, but it should be relatively easy for Republicans to unite around the winner in New Hampshire — certainly easier than in Delaware.

A HA reader tells Ed that turnout in NH appears to be heavy today. The full Ed Morrissey opinion piece is here.

- JP

McCormack: Pro-Life Groups Defend Kelly Ayotte

*
Pro-life groups are going to bat for Kelly Ayotte in defense of her pro-life bonafides in the New Hampshire race for U.S. Senate. John McCormack at The Weekly Standard's Blog reports:

Though Ayotte is pro-life and has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, her record is being assailed by supporters of candidate Ovide LaMontagne, who styles himself as the true conservative in the race. The most recent poll shows Ayotte leading LaMontagne 34% to 21%. Pro-choice multi-millionaire Bill Binnie was close behind at 17%, but other polls have shown him in second place.

The Susan B. Anthony List, whose primary goal is to send pro-life women to Congress, announced yesterday that it's launching a $150,000 campaign to support Ayotte, and the National Right to Life Committee released a memo countering claims that Ayotte wrongfully had the state pay for $300,000 in legal fees to Planned Parenthood. The NRLC writes:

On August 12, 2007, Judge DiClerico issued an opinion finding that Planned Parenthood was entitled to attorney fees and court costs. Judge DiClerico ordered both sides to meet and make their best efforts to resolve the amount, to avoid further court proceedings.

At this point there was no law for Ayotte to defend when the payment of plaintiff’s fees was ordered. The DEMOCRATS cost the state the loss of the case by repealing the law and they cost the state $300,000 by repealing the law and handing Planned Parenthood the win and New Hampshire and its families the loss. The Democrats turned a winnable case and, most importantly, protection for the state’s minor daughters from unscrupulous abortionists into a gift to Planned Parenthood. Based on Judge DiClerico’s decision, it was a given that Planned Parenthood was going to receive attorney fees. Attorney General Ayotte had no alternative but to negotiate the best settlement possible.

The full NRLC memorandum is here.

- JP

NRA joins Gov. Palin and TPX; endorses Christine O'Donnell (Updated)

*
The National Rifle Association joined Sarah Palin and Tea Party Express and endorsed Christine O'Donnell Friday in Delaware's Republican Senate primary. O'Donnell is hoping to upset Rep. Mike Castle on Tuesday:

The NRA's Political Victory Fund cited O'Donnell's "commitment to preserving the Second Amendment" in its endorsement of her Friday.

“Christine O’Donnell will be a strong voice in fighting ongoing efforts by anti-gun politicians to dismantle the Second Amendment,” chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund Chris Cox said in a statement. “We ask all Delaware gun-owners and hunters to vote for Christine O’Donnell in the U.S. Senate Republican primary on September 14th.”

The NRA's endorsement made no mention of Castle, but the longtime congressman earns an "F" from the gun lobby for his voting record.

Gov. Palin just retweeted Mark Levin's link to this article:

This says a lot. RT. "@marklevinshow: NRA endorses O'Donnell today. http://bit.ly/bxhD5Y http://fb.me/D77ibv6L"

Meanwhile, Tea Party Express announced Friday that it has raised over $200,000 in support of O'Donnell's campaign:

"We're raising money from grassroots conservatives $25, $50 and $100 at a time to support Christine O'Donnell as we fight back against the millions of dollars Mike Castle has collected from the corrupted special interests in Washington, D.C. to wage his smear campaign against the tea party movement as a whole and conservative Republican Christine O'Donnell," said Joe Wierzbicki, Coordinator for the Tea Party Express.

Update: Sen. Jim DeMint Endorses O'Donnell

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 9, 2010)

*
W. James Antle, III at the American Spectator's blog:

"Now that Sarah Palin has endorsed Christine O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware, the O'Donnell campaign is starting to look like a typical Tea Party success story along the lines of Rand Paul in Kentucky, Ken Buck in Colorado, Sharron Angle in Nevada or Joe Miller in Alaska... No Republican to the left of Castle is likely to be found, not even in Delaware... Basically, Castle's strongest argument is that he can win in November... But the trouble is, as far as I can see this argument hasn't worked so well for establishment candidates going as far back as the NY-23 special congressional election in 2009 -- and Castle shares more than a few ideological traits with Dede Scozzafava."

- JP

Meet Christine O'Donnell

*
Here's video of a short interview of Christine O'Donnell by Jim Hoft recorded prior to Gov. Palin's endorsement:



h/t: Bluegrass Pundit

- JP

Stacy McCain: Joe Miller, RINO hunter (Updated)

*
Stacy McCain at The American Spectator reports that the Murkowski campaign has lawyered up with Mike Roman, who worked on Norm Coleman's behalf in the 2008 Minnesota recount that that made comedian Al Franken a U.S. Senator:

Murkowski's campaign is "bringing in the big shots," Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in a telephone interview late Sunday. Meanwhile, voters who cast absentee ballots were reporting that they had gotten calls asking how they'd voted -- the names of absentee voters are a matter of public record in Alaska -- and when Miller's campaign suggested this was evidence of mischief by the senator's team, Murkowski accused Miller of being "paranoid."

Of course, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, and Miller's supporters already had solid reasons to suspect that Murkowski would stop at nothing to retain her Senate seat. Chief among these reasons was the fact that Anchorage political consultant Andrew Halcro placed a call first thing Wednesday morning to Scott Kohlhaas, chairman of the Alaska Libertarian Party. Halcro was asking whether the Libertarians would be open to having Murkowski replace their Senate nominee, Dave Haase. Halcro is a former Republican state legislator best known for his boundless hatred of Sarah Palin. After Palin won the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006, Halcro waged a third-party campaign aimed principally at attacking the Republican and earned him the nickname Mr. Nine Percent, that being his share of the vote. Since being chosen as John McCain's running mate two years ago, of course, Palin has become world-famous and Halcro's bitterness toward her has only increased.

It was Palin's early endorsement of Joe Miller that was widely credited with launching the underdog to victory, and thus the intrusion of ex-Republican Halcro into the post-primary phase of the Senate campaign is scarcely surprising. Certainly Miller's supporters could be forgiven for wondering if Halcro would be reaching out to the Libertarians on Murkowski's behalf without the senator's permission, especially after he disclosed to the Anchorage Daily News that he had spoken by phone with Murkowski.

For their part, Alaska LP officials initially said they were receptive to Murkowski's interest and seemed dazzled by their newfound status as potential kingmakers (or at least, senator-makers) in what had suddenly become the hottest political story of the summer. Yet Halcro's attempts to play matchmaker were clearly hampered by the vast difference between Murkowski's big-government Republicanism and the anti-statist ideology of the Libertarians. Harley Brown, vice chairman of the Alaska LP, told me Saturday that his feeling was "99 percent… no way" that his party would replace Haase with Murkowski. The top leadership of the LP held a two-hour meeting Sunday to discuss the idea and have scheduled a press conference for today. If, as seems likely, the Libertarians say they won't take Murkowski as their nominee, that will end all talk of the senator seeking re-election as a third-party candidate.

If the Alaska LP wants nothing to do with Murkowski, then her only way of retaining power would be manipulating the count of the 23,472 remaining uncounted ballots. Joe Miller's conservative and small-l libertarian supporters see Murkowski as a RINO, a political animal which has been added to the endangered list, along with the liberal Democrats in Congress who have driven the country into the ground in just four short years.

Related: Miller attorney's letter (PDF) to AK Division of Elections

Update: Guess who is headed "North to Alaska?"

"Frankly, I was planning to go later, but got an e-mail Sunday from a source who suggested I didn’t want to miss the action Tuesday and so I did something crazy: Booked a one-way flight on short notice, because (a) I wasn’t sure I had enough money yet to buy a round-trip; (b) it isn’t clear how soon they’ll have an official decision; and (c) maybe I can drop by and see the neighborhood where, uh, Joe McGinniss lives."

- JP

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

John Fund: Murkowski's own internal poll shows Miller closing the gap (Updated)

*
The Wall Street Journal's John Fund reports that Lisa Murkowski's own internal polling shows Joe Miller is closing the gap. This confirms the finds of the RT Nielson poll which revels has Sen. Murkowski's lead has shrunk to 47% to 35%. Just a month ago, an independent survey by Anchorage-based Ivan Moore Research showed Murkowski leading Miller by 62 percent to 30 percent. Not only has much of Murkowski's lead evaporated, but she's now "underwater," below the 50 percent level of support where an incumbent can be considered safe:

Ms. Murkowski has outspent her rival by almost 20 to 1, but she has yet to demonstrate a secure grip on a seat that she was appointed to by her father Frank when he was governor in 2002. In 2004, Ms. Murkowski won only 58% against an underfunded challenger in the GOP primary and almost lost to a Democrat that fall.

Ms. Murkowski insists she has since accumulated political clout that Alaskans would be foolish to throw away. She has carved a middle-of-the-road path and has continued the tradition of lobbying for pork-barrel projects for her home state, a stance raising the hackles of many conservatives. In a posting on Facebook, Sarah Palin accused Senator Murkowski of becoming "part of the big government problem in Washington."

Fund says Miller will be able to tap into Gov. Palin's network of grass-roots supporters in Alaska in his efforts to increase turnout. Midterm primary elections have traditionally had low voter turnout.

Updates...

Erick Erickson agrees. Sure, Murkowski is the heavy favorite, but don't count Joe Miller out just yet. It's not like there haven't been major political upsets in Alaska politics before.

John Gizzi disagrees:

"Miller is impressive but this doesn’t look like his race or year."

If not this year, then perhaps 2014 in a challenge to Democrat Mark Begich, as was pointed out in the comments.

- JP

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

*
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

Kansas GOP Senate primary election is Tuesday (Updated)

*
Republicans will begin casting their votes in the Kansas Republican primary for U.S. Senate in less than 12 hours. The polls will open at 7 AM in the Jayhawk State and will close at 7 PM. Two U.S. Congressmen have been battling to be the GOP nominee, a candidate who will be all but assured of victory in the November general election in Republican Kansas. The Senate seat is being vacated by Sam Brownback, who is the front-runner to be the state's next governor.

Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran have been waging a contest to convince voters that each is the true conservative in the race. Moran has the larger campaign war chest and has led the lead in the polls, but Tiahrt has been narrowing the gap in the most recent polling. Although a Survey USA poll released on the eve of the primary election showed Moran with a 10-point lead, the race could actually be closer than that:

The pollster says that compared to two weeks ago, Moran is down one percentage point, and Tiahrt is up three. Tiahrt’s strategy to paint himself as the true conservative appears to be working, at least among conservative voters. Today he leads among conservatives by five percentage points, where two months ago Moran led by 21 percentage points in this group.

The poll notes potential trouble for Moran: “Most ominous for Moran: Among the 17 percent of voters who report they have already cast their ballots, Tiahrt is nominally ahead, 46 percent to 43 percent. Among those who tell SurveyUSA they are likely to vote, but have not yet done so, Moran leads by 13.”

If these potential Moran voters don't turn out tomorrow, it could be good news for Tiahrt.

Moran has been endorsed by Senators Jim Demint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). Tiahrt has the backing of 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former White House chief of staff Karl Rove and political activist Phyllis Schlafly.

Updates...

Gov. Palin wrote tonight on her wall at Facebook:

Sarah Palin I want to remind the good people of Kansas to vote on Tuesday for Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate. He is a strong commonsense conservative who will serve Kansans with honor and help put our country on the right fiscal track.
About Todd
www.toddtiahrt.com
Kansans for Tiahrt

And from NRO's The Corner, "(Mostly) Good News from Kansas"

- JP

Will Gov. Palin endorse Christine O'Donnell for the U.S. Senate?

*
Though she has been considered a long shot in her GOP primary race against Rep. Mike Castle, a recent Rasmussen survey shows Christine O’Donnell's poll numbers increasing, while Castle's are in decline.

O'Donnell told Politico earlier this week that she has contacted Gov. Palin's camp and requested an endorsement from the first woman to be nominated for vice president by the Republican Party. She already has the backing of Susan B. Anthony List, the pro-life organization which gave birth to Team Sarah, and CWPAC, the political action committee of Concerned Women of America. O'Donnell has also been endorsed by bloggers Erick Erickson at RedState and Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs.

We have to believe that Gov. Palin is seriously considering O'Donnell's request for an endorsement. Her positions on the issues appear to be nearly identical to those of the former Alaska governor, as we pointed out here last month. Castle, on the other hand, opposes the repeal of ObamaCare, and voted as a Congressman for Cap-and-Trade and the the $700 billion TARP bill. Like Obama and Biden in the Senate, Castle voted against the troop surge for Iraq in the House.

It's Biden's seat in the Senate, with four years left on an unexpired term, that that both O'Donnell and Castle are vying for. Polling shows either Republican would give Democrat Chris Coons a good run for his money, but Castle is the very picture of an establishment Republican, while O'Donnell is a Reagan/Palin conservative.

Ed Morrissey has a video of the Right Online interview with Christine O’Donnell posted at Hot Air. It's video worth watching. And Stacy McCain weights in here. Patience, Stacy, patience.


- JP

Sarah Palin?

*
She ran against Joe Biden, but lost the election.

She's a political commentator who has appeared on Fox News.

She is a Bible-believing Christian.

She opposes granting terrorists the same Constitutional rights that the founders intended for American citizens.

She believes our nation was founded on the core values of faith, family and freedom and will fight to defend those values.

She believes that parents should make the important decisions about the education of their children.

She believes that it is is immoral to saddle our grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt, and she wants to take the burden of taxes off of the backs of American families and businesses. She believes that this will help create jobs.

She is fiercely pro-life.

She favors market-based solutions to our energy problems to keep competition high and prices low.

She believes the federal government's wasteful spending is eroding our freedom, destroying our economy and ceding our sovereignty to foreign debt-holders like China.

She opposes ObamaCare, and believes that real solutions to our health care mess are less government interference in the doctor/patient relationship, more competition in the insurance market and more choice for families about their health care plan.

She is a strong strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and has earned an “A” rating from the NRA.

Sounds just like Sarah Palin, doesn't it?

In this particular case, however, we just described Christine O’Donnell, who is opposing GOP Lite candidate Mike Castle in Delaware for the Republican Party nomination in the race to capture the seat once held by Biden in the U.S. Senate.

Her website is here. Take a look.

- JP

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

*
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

The DC: Chuck Heath & Son become sought-after figures in GOP primary races

*
Although Sarah Palin hasn't endorsed a candidate in the Nevada GOP senate primary, Danny Tarkanian has the next best thing -- the backing of her father and brother. According to Alex Pappas, it may help:

Chuck Heath Jr., a 48-year-old schoolteacher from Anchorage, says both he and his dad receive constant requests for endorsements across the country, but grant few. So far they’ve endorsed just four candidates. “Of course, their ultimate goal is they want Sarah’s endorsement,” Heath explained during an interview Wednesday with The Daily Caller.

The Heaths first met Danny Tarkanian during the 2008 election. “Their family got really behind our family, and especially Sarah, and we kind of struck up a friendship that way,” Chuck Jr. said. Tarkanian, son of the famous coach and a former NBA player himself, bonded with the family over basketball. When Tarkanian called to say he was running for the nomination, Palin’s brother remembers, it wasn’t a tough call. “We told him, you worked for us and we believe in what you stand for also — and especially running against Harry Reid, we’ll do whatever we can to get behind you.”

The Tarkanian campaign has been using Palin’s father as a surrogate since last fall. In October, Chuck Sr. made five stops throughout the state for Tarkanian. In November, the retired schoolteacher signed a fundraising letter. In March, he cut a radio ad that’s still on the air today.

The Tarkanian campaign, says spokesman James Fisfis, has “certainly valued the endorsement” – which, while “it doesn’t guarantee any votes,” does “guarantee that you do get attention and people will take a look at your platforms and what you’re saying.” The presence of Palin’s father and son “shines attention on Danny,” he says. “We were able to have events and bring people together. They all wanted to meet and hangout with the Palins.”

Chuck Jr. says he doesn’t know if his sister Sarah will make an endorsement in the Nevada primary, where former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, former State Senator Sue Lowden and Tarkanian are the three leading contenders in a field of nine candidates.

Lowden, who is considered to be the establishment GOP candidate still leads the race with 30 percent, according to a Mason-Dixon poll conducted May 10-11 for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Angle, who has the endorsement of Tea Party Express, has surged recently and is now right behind Lowden at 25 percent. At the beginning of April, before the TPX endorsement, Angle was at a distant 5 percent in the polls. Tarkanian is not far behind Angle in third place with 22 percent.