TweetShe’s very pro-life and very conservative on many issues, but she is not a scary hard-core conservative.
She ran an extraordinary campaign, knocking off the incumbent governor and former senator Frank Murkowski in the primary, then walking all over the Democrat former governor Tim Knowles with hobnailed boots in the general. And she did all this in the teeth of a deliberate and vindictive effort by the Alaska GOP establishment to engineer her loss… even though that would mean the Democrat’s victory.
One of the Democrats’ traditional attacks on Republicans — and the Republicans’ worst nightmare recently — is ethics; Palin owns this issue, having ridden it into the governor’s mansion (probably a Quonset hut; this is Alaska). She went against her own, highly corrupt Alaska Republican Party to do so (which is why they worked to defeat her, even in the general election: The old guard was enraged). Since then, she killed Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-A, 64% “bridge to nowhere,” rejected earmarks slated for Alaska, and gained an enviable reputation of honesty and independence from monetary interests.
She’s especially good on energy issues, which is either the hottest (sorry) or second hottest campaign issue this year. She supports drilling everywhere; but she’s also a global-warming gal. This doesn’t impress me, of course; but it’s certainly more in tune with the electorate today than am I.
She also happens to have a stunning approval rating in Alaska… upwards of 80% or so.
Sarah Palin would simply remove the Democratic issues of ethics, energy, and especially “change” from the campaign. What will that leave them?