Posted on 06/10/2010 4:59:20 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin had a good night Tuesday, with three of the four candidates she had endorsed – including California’s Carly Fiorina and South Carolina’s Nikki Haley – either winning their primaries or making a runoff.
But the effectiveness of such endorsements is up for debate.
The endorsement game is in full swing, and politicians are happy to receive credit when someone they publicly back goes on to win – especially if that person can be useful, say, in a future presidential campaign. Former Alaska Governor Palin’s late endorsement of Terry Branstad for governor of Iowa puts her in his good graces in a key nominating state in the 2012 presidential race, should she decide to run. Of course, Mr. Branstad was going to win his GOP primary anyway, and no one’s saying that Palin’s endorsement was all that instrumental. But her bases are covered.
"Political scientists have concluded endorsements don’t make much difference most of the time,” says Jim Guth, a political scientist at Furman University in Greenville, SC.
But there are exceptions. There is no hard evidence that Palin’s endorsement of Ms. Haley, the conservative Indian-American state legislator running for governor of South Carolina, helped her win 49 percent of the vote in a four-person field. But it appears to have, political analysts say. Haley’s poll numbers took off after Palin came out for her, as did fund-raising and media attention. The endorsement of Jenny Sanford, ex-wife of Gov. Mark Sanford, also likely helped. But political observers doubt that Palin was all that instrumental in Fiorina’s California Senate primary victory.
“California and South Carolina are different states,” says Mr. Guth. “In South Carolina, Sarah Palin is still seen as a Republican leader of the future.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
“Notice they don’t bring up Mr. Obama’s failed endorsements...”
...but not surprizing.
As Sarah stated last nite lets not for get Martinez of NM. She went from second place to a landslide win with the help of Sarah Palin.
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