Yeah, there’s a lot of internal AK GOP politics going on we’re not privy to. She’s always been on the anti-establishment side of the party. I remember when she first ran for Lt Governor back in 2002 and placed 2nd in the primary, narrowly losing to Loren Leman. I got the impression Frank Murkowski definitely would not have wanted her as his #2.
It turned out a blessing, because his disastrous single-term governorship would’ve gotten her tarred if she had been #2 (and as it was, Leman refused to run again), so losing freed her to be able to run against Murkowski (who placed an embarrassing 3rd behind Palin and State Sen. John Binkley).
As I mentioned in a prior post, this was a pretty big deal her parting ways with Gov. Parnell, who had been regarded as her heir apparent. Of course, in Parnell striking out on his own, he was bound to come into conflict with her, but I’d never have imagined she’d go the route with this endorsement (it’s odd why she didn’t recruit someone to run against Parnell in the primary, where he faced only desultory opposition — Walker had ample opportunity to run again, as he did in 2010, losing to Parnell 50-33%).
I think it’s a bit too personal on her part, and allowing the likes of ultraleft Dem Mallott a heartbeat away from the Governorship is a really bad idea. It would be a different story if Walker picked a non-leftist running mate, but choosing to make common cause with the corrupt union-straitjacketed AK Dems is a giveaway to the rest of us that this is not a Conservative guy.
I wish she had acted boldly in stepping up in 2010 to denounce and defeat McCain in the primary, for whom she had more than ample evidence he and his people had stabbed her in the back from virtually the moment after she was picked and almost caused that RINO ringer to accidentally win the election over the anointed Obola.
In the end, you hate seeing your heroes make mistakes or endorse things or people you strongly take issue with (we had Fred Thompson here in TN, and I hated to see a good man like him endorse really odious people, as he did once with the ultraleft Sen. Lincoln Chafee). Even President Reagan made some goofs (Sandra Day O’Connor, for one; or going with GHW Bush over Sen. Paul Laxalt for VP).