Palin Hunts a Momma Grizzly

online.wsj.com ^ | AUGUST 24, 2010 | JOHN FUND

[Syncro]

Palin Hunts a Momma Grizzly

Sarah Palin has accused Senator Murkowski of becoming "part of the big government problem in Washington."

By JOHN FUND

Allies of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski are looking over their shoulders before Tuesday's GOP primary. Internal polls taken for her campaign show Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller closing the gap. A new RT Nielson poll also has Ms. Murkowski's lead down to 47% to 35%. If accurate, it shows Ms. Murkowski below the 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.

[Syncro]

Short article, read the rest at the link above

[Syncro]

Another wsj article excerpt:

August 23, 2010, 3:31 PM ET

Palin Takes A Swipe At Her Home State Senator

By Kathy Chen

Sarah Palin is losing no opportunity to criticize a fellow Alaska Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

In an automated phone call in advance of Tuesday’s primary election, Palin urges voters to back challenger Joe Miller and asserts that Murkowski “has voted with the Democrats more than any Republican up for reelection this year.”

She adds that Murkowski “waffled” on whether to repeal the Democrats’ sweeping health care legislation and voted for the TARP banking bailout. She calls Miller a “common-sense conservative” with “the backbone to confront Obama’s radical agenda

[NormsRevenge]

Lisa, just go fishing and play with the grandkids. Please.

[Mr. K]

"Nielson poll also has Ms. Murkowski's lead down to 47% to 35%. If accurate, it shows Ms. Murkowski below the level of support where an incumbent can be considered safe"

Otherwise known as "an insurmountable lead" when it is a democrap

[Jim Scott]

There’s no love lost between Lisa Murkowski and Sarah Palin based on Palin’s defeat of Lisa’s father, longtime Alaska power-broker Frank Murkowski. Whether Sarah Palin can leverage her popularity with Alaskans to garner a primary victory for Joe Miller remains to be seen, but I can’t blame her for trying - and I hope Miller is successful.

[Judges Gone Wild]

Git ‘er, Sarahcuda! How ‘bout the rest of us commence to RINO hunting in the lower 48?

[Hojczyk]

Palin Takes on Two Old Foes in Alaska Primary
Real Clear Politics ^ | August 23, 2010 | Scott Conroy

Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 10:26:31 AM by Hojczyk

In Going Rogue, Sarah Palin unleashed some of her most descriptive personal jabs against her former close aide turned bitter enemy John Bitney, whom she described as “a Blackberry games addict who couldn’t seem to keep his lunch off his tie.” Palin blamed Bitney for inspiring a still infamous comment that she made about state legislators during her early days in office and added, “the fact that his shirt was buttoned one button off and his shirt tail was poking through his open fly didn’t exactly inspire confidence.”

Bitney, now the campaign manager for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a fellow Palin antagonist, will have the chance to refute Palin’s portrayal of him as an incompetent slacker on Tuesday when Murkowski faces off against Palin-backed challenger Joe Miller in Alaska’s Republican Senate primary.

[Retired Greyhound]

If Sarah’s candidate can’t win the GOP Primary in AK, it will raise some questions about her influence.

It’s not like Murkowski is a long serving, popular senator.

Not that I mind her taking a loss, by the way. I’m not a big fan of kingmakers.

[Leo Farnsworth]

It's Alaska.

Grizzlies are just little wimpy things up there.

Sarah could take on a Kodiak bear!

Grizzly! It's an insult!

(This post is meant in fun)!

[Syncro]

If Sarah’s candidate can’t win the GOP Primary in AK, it will raise some questions about her influence.

She will be able to handle a few losses of the people she endorses.

Those that question her influence are spouting off all over the TV and the dark dank corners of the www, and they started the minute they caught PES, dems and republicans alike.

LOL@Kingmaker, this is a Constitutional Republic.

Obama is King of The World.

[Syncro]

Servant of the Cross, I had to ask to have your post pulled because it violated the excerpting rule.

As I said, this is a very short article and I excerpted as much as can be posted to stay within the boundaries of the rules.

Sorry, I don't want the thread pulled.

[Servant of the Cross]

I understand and appreciate the notice. I just couldn’t believe what she actually said in print as the reason to vote for her.

[Retired Greyhound]

A few losses are fine, but I would personally wonder why she can’t knock off Murkowski in her home state.

King is beneath Obama. He is messiah.

[Syncro]

An email from The Tea Party Express that mentions the WSJ article with the numbers in it:

The Wall Street Journal has just issued a report showing that liberal Senator Lisa Murkowski's own internal polling shows that Conservative Republican challenger Joe Miller is closing in fast.  This is on top of the RT Nielson poll which showed Miller has gained 25% in the polls in just 3 weeks.

We have the momentum - and friends, we are on the verge of having a historic victory that will be the biggest political upset of the 2010 elections.  We have to give it everything we've got and we here at the Tea Party Express are buying up every available TV, radio and newspaper ad we can for today and tomorrow.

We're desperately trying to raise as much money for this effort and we have only today and tomorrow to raise the $150,000+ we need for our MoneyBomb for Joe Miller.

Please, this is urgent, make the most generous contribution you can afford - HERE.

If you can afford a contribution of $100, $250, $500, $1,000 or more it will be extremely helpful.

To fully fund this effort we still need at least 8 more conservatives to donate $500 or more within the next 24 hours.  Make a contribution online - HERE.

If you prefer you can mail in a contribution payable to "Tea Party Express" to our headquarters:

Tea Party Express

P.O. Box 1863

Sacramento, CA 95812

[Syncro]

Well, hopefully others will read it at the link.

Thanks!

[Syncro]

There are many factors involved.

It won't be her fault if the faux grizzly Lisa wins. But if Miller wins Palin will have been a factor in that.

Did you help with the money bomb for Miller?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I totally agree. If Lisa wins, it would be a huge setback for Palin.

[deport]

A new RT Nielson poll also has Ms. Murkowski’s lead down to 47% to 35%.

---

Miller maybe able to pull this one out but it is a hard road to climb. The undecides/no opinion, etc have increased to 18% up from 15% in the last poll. That may mean that Miller is taking some voters from the incumbent and moving them to the undecided group. If he can convince 80% or so of the undecideds then he may pull this off. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next day.

[Brices Crossroads]

Two interesting points that Fund makes which are important:

“Internal polls taken for her campaign show Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller closing the gap. A new RT Nielson poll also has Ms. Murkowski’s lead down to 47% to 35%. If accurate, it shows Ms. Murkowski below the level of support where an incumbent can be considered safe.”

Murkowski’s own internal polls are showing the race going against her. She has the money to run polls. Someone must have leaked them to the press. I saw the same thing on the Anchorage Daily News Bog today. Someone posted that it was a one point race.

“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.”

Money doesn’t count for much in Alaska. It is not a heavy media state like California or Florida. It is turnout, which means intensity. And as Fund points out, Lisa got only 58% against a no name candidate back in 2004 when her daddy was the governor and before the ethics problems that damaged and eventually destroyed his administration. And she barely edged Tony Knolwes in the General Election in 2004-—a huge GOP year.

Conclusion: Don’t overestimate Lisa Murkowski. She is not a great candidate. The Murkowski brand is much weaker this year. Joe Miller is a great candidate. And he has a major assist from a very formidable force....Sarah Palin.

If you put all those ingredients together, what you get is a Miller win. Don’t be shocked if it happens. Because it is gonna. The stars are all in alignment, in a manner of speaking, for Joe Miller.