CNN: Palin a big winner Tuesday
Posted on: August 25, 2010
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Sarah Palin’s endorsement slump has come to a screeching halt, with all three of the statewide candidates she backed either leading or having won their primary bids Tuesday night. Palin’s most high-profile, and perhaps influential, endorsement came in Alaska earlier this summer – where the former Republican vice presidential nominee backed little-known attorney Joe Miller over Lisa Murkowski, the state’s incumbent Republican senator. The endorsement immediately rocketed Miller’s profile throughout the state, as did an endorsement from the Tea Party Express which poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. Palin’s husband Todd also penned a fundraising letter and the former Alaska governor herself recorded a robo-call on Miller’s behalf. As of Wednesday morning, Miller holds a slim 1,960 vote lead of Murkowski, according to an unofficial vote tally by the Associated Press with 98 percent of precincts reporting, with thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted. The former Alaska governor also backed Arizona Sen. John McCain – the former presidential candidate who rocketed Palin to stardom in 2008 when he selected her as his running mate. Though members of the Tea Party movement lined up against the longtime Arizona senator, Palin stayed loyal to McCain and appeared at a campaign event with him in March. Addressing long-standing concern among conservatives McCain is too centrist, Palin said the Arizona senator is driven by “common sense conservative principles” and touted his steadfast opposition to the Obama administration. McCain beat former Rep. J.D. Hayworth Tuesday by more than 30 points – a definitive victory but one that also carried a $20 million price tag. In the race for Florida attorney general, Palin backed Pam Bondi, a Tampa prosecutor who faced the better-known Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp for the job. Palin’s endorsement of Bondi came only one week ago and even surprised Bondi herself, who had no advance notice the former Alaska governor would take to her Facebook page to back the campaign. According to the Miami Herald, Bondi met Palin at a Susan B. Anthony breakfast in Washington a few months ago. Bondi told the paper the two talked about Down Syndrome, which affects Palin’s son as well as a niece of Bondi’s. Bondi quickly promoted the endorsement and had Palin record a robo-call on her behalf over the weekend. She beat Kottkamp by 5 points and a third candidate, Holly Benson, by 9 points.

