Three reasons I can think of:
1. His opponents were worse.
2. If you are eying a future in national politics favors given now pay big later.
3. She didn't always make good endorsements.
I think we'd all pretty much agree on the first one. The second one is trying to read someones intent, and even though several FReepers believe themselves fully capable of that I won't try it. The third contradicts the first, so it's just thrown in as a fact, not necessarily germane to this situation.
Handel over Johnson in GA support #3.
Thanks for your post. Sounds reasonable. But many article researches show Palin saying how conservative Perry is; as well as Palin could have endorsed Hutchinson a woman but she knew Perry may run and not Hutchinson so I conclude a guess like you that it is politics and sucking up for a VP slot and Perry is not a RINO no more than Reagan who is a former democrat and was for amnesty.So if Perry is all of a sudden not conservative enough for Palin it looks strange.She didn’t have to endorse anyone.She pin pointed Perry for good reasoning. She is a player politician just like the rest of them.Being that she said ‘you betcha’ to being Romney’s running mate in 2012 VP in 2012.It is poltics and she is a politician.
_________________________________________________________
Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of the nation’s first-largest state and the party’s VP nominee last fall, has weighed in to support her gubernatorial colleague, Perry.
In a letter distributed this week to nearly 11,000 members of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, longtime supporters of Hutchison, Palin follows the Reagan Rule and does not attack Hutchison by name. But she strongly touts the “true conservative” credentials of Perry, who befriended the Alaskan chief executive in the Republican Governors Assn. when he was chairman last year.
“He walks the walk of a true conservative,” Palin writes. “And he sticks by his guns — and you know how I feel about guns.”
As is the case for most party primaries, Texas’ will be a struggle for the far reaches of the faithful, who have historically been much more likely to turn out in a spring election. Palin praises Perry’s stand against federal bailouts and his opposition to abortion.
“Not every child is born into ideal circumstances,” Palin adds, “but every life is sacred. Rick Perry knows this — it is at the core of his being.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/02/palin-perry-201.html