Sarah Palin jumped full force into U.S. House GOP primary, but her candidate may not win
Submitted by Chad on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 12:07pm.
Be-Elected
There has been a lot of talk about Sarah Palin and her influence as Governor of Alaska. But there is one area where she has tried to make an impact that has been virtually ignored by the press.
If you didn't know who Sarah Palin was a week ago, you may not know who Sean Parnell is. I wrote about Parnell in his quest to defeat longtime incumbent Don Young in the Republican Party primary on August 26.
On the same day Ted Stevens got 63 percent of the vote in the primary, despite being under indictment, the Young-Parnell race ended up being too close to call. Currently, Young is up by 151 votes but there are more than 25,000 absentee and questioned ballots to be counted.
What does this have to do with Sarah Palin? Well, Parnell is Alaska's lieutenant governor, and Palin pushed very hard to get Parnell to win the primary. Why? Well, Don Young is 75 and under investigation for his ties to Anchorage-based VECO Corporation, the Feds are looking into possible bribes, illegal gratuities, or unreported gifts.
If Young ends up winning the primary, two things appear clear. The Republicans will likely lose that seat to the Democrats, and Palin will look like she couldn't even deliver on an intra-party squabble. After all, Palin threw her complete support in a Republican Party primary to the non-incumbent.
Her comments on saving the Bridge to Nowhere would help her stand out against the clouds over Stevens and Young, who wanted the bridge, but since she took the federal money and hasn't built the bridge with non-federal money, she looks weak on this issue.
And the other dilemma for Palin in this closely contested race is that Parnell, as the Lieutenant Governor, is in charge of the Division of Elections as part of his duties as Lt. Gov. So Parnell is in charge of the bureau handling the recount of the Young/Parnell race.
The interesting element to all of this is Palin being on the ticket might decrease the chances of Stevens' seat or Young's seat going to the Democrats. You almost have to wonder if McCain tried to do his pals Stevens and Young a big favor by picking Palin.
And Obama has said Alaska is the only state he hasn't been in, even though he has an office in Anchorage. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (running for Stevens' Senate seat) and former Democratic Party Minority Leader in the Alaskan House Ethan Berkowitz (running for Young's seat) could use Obama's help in the upcoming campaign.
Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel Sarah Palin Sean Parnell Alaska Don Young VECO Ted Stevens Republican primary
If you didn't know who Sarah Palin was a week ago, you may not know who Sean Parnell is. I wrote about Parnell in his quest to defeat longtime incumbent Don Young in the Republican Party primary on August 26.
On the same day Ted Stevens got 63 percent of the vote in the primary, despite being under indictment, the Young-Parnell race ended up being too close to call. Currently, Young is up by 151 votes but there are more than 25,000 absentee and questioned ballots to be counted.
What does this have to do with Sarah Palin? Well, Parnell is Alaska's lieutenant governor, and Palin pushed very hard to get Parnell to win the primary. Why? Well, Don Young is 75 and under investigation for his ties to Anchorage-based VECO Corporation, the Feds are looking into possible bribes, illegal gratuities, or unreported gifts.
If Young ends up winning the primary, two things appear clear. The Republicans will likely lose that seat to the Democrats, and Palin will look like she couldn't even deliver on an intra-party squabble. After all, Palin threw her complete support in a Republican Party primary to the non-incumbent.
Her comments on saving the Bridge to Nowhere would help her stand out against the clouds over Stevens and Young, who wanted the bridge, but since she took the federal money and hasn't built the bridge with non-federal money, she looks weak on this issue.
And the other dilemma for Palin in this closely contested race is that Parnell, as the Lieutenant Governor, is in charge of the Division of Elections as part of his duties as Lt. Gov. So Parnell is in charge of the bureau handling the recount of the Young/Parnell race.
The interesting element to all of this is Palin being on the ticket might decrease the chances of Stevens' seat or Young's seat going to the Democrats. You almost have to wonder if McCain tried to do his pals Stevens and Young a big favor by picking Palin.
And Obama has said Alaska is the only state he hasn't been in, even though he has an office in Anchorage. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (running for Stevens' Senate seat) and former Democratic Party Minority Leader in the Alaskan House Ethan Berkowitz (running for Young's seat) could use Obama's help in the upcoming campaign.
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technorati Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel Sarah Palin Sean Parnell Alaska Don Young VECO Ted Stevens Republican primary
