Thread: Two Sarah Palin picks go down to defeat

Aug 18, 2010

Two Sarah Palin picks go down to defeat

10:34 AM

Sarah Palin has been on a losing streak with endorsements lately. Here she's seen at an election-eve rally for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel, left. Handel lost the GOP nomination to former Rep. Nathan Deal last week. On Tuesday, Palin's candidates in the Wyoming GOP gubernatorial primary and in a race for Washington state's U.S. Senate seat also fell short. CAPTIONBy John Bazemore, APOne of Sarah Palin's "mama grizzlies" and an ex-NFL star she liked both lost primary elections Tuesday.

Update, 3:20 p.m. ET: In a just-issued statement the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee notes that she has taken chances by supporting political underdogs, and suggests she's looking well beyond this election cycle.

"Regardless of whether the many candidates I've had the honor of endorsing win or lose this time around, I support them because they boldly shake things up in their primary races," Palin says in her statement, which also acknowledged the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving American women the right to vote. More about that in a separate post.

Palin's pick in the Wyoming GOP gubernatorial primary, Rita Meyer, conceded a squeaker early this morning. She placed a close second in a seven-way contest. Unofficial results tabulated by the Wyoming Secretary of State showed Matt Mead edging Meyer by 714 votes out of more than 100,000 cast.

Colin Simpson, the son of former Sen. Alan Simpson and grandson of former Sen. Milward Simpson, both Republicans, came in fourth in the GOP governor's race.

Mead will face Democrat Leslie Petersen in the fall campaign to replace retiring Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat.

In Washington state, it wasn't even close: Palin-backed candidate Clint Didier ran a distant third in the elimination round for the U.S. Senate race. Washington has an unusual "top-two" primary system in which candidates of all parties compete on a single ballot, with the top two finishers facing off in the fall.

Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray came in first with 46% of the vote. Her November opponent, who got 34% of the vote, will be Republican Dino Rossi. Rossi lost the 2008 governor's race to Christine Gregoire in a close fight that was decided only after protracted, post-Election Day legal battles.

Didier, a former Washington Redskin who had the backing of blue-chip conservatives such as Palin and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, got 12% of the vote.

Last week, Karen Handel narrowly lost a runoff for the GOP nomination in the Georgia governor's race despite an election-eve appearance on her behalf by Palin.

See updated race ratings and candidates with USA TODAY's interactive election map.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... o-defeat/1

Some of Palin's picks have been the more "rino" traditional candidate VS the more conservative candidate.

She backed Norton along with McCain in CO - but the Jim DeMint Conservative candidate Ken Buck won (and is now ahead in the polls).

So I don't think her losing some candidates represent anything other than she sometimes picks a more "rino" candidate (which I do find suprising).

Nathan Deal is a great American and I am so glad he won! He is the man that wrote the bill stuck in the house to end birth right citizenship.

Former Rep. Nathan Deal completed the NumbersUSA Immigration-Reduction Survey, answering "Yes" to every question. He also had a career A+ grade over his nine terms in Congress.

Deal introduced legislation into the current Congress that would change U.S. naturalization law that grants automatic citizenship to all children born in the country. The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009, H.R.1868, would require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident. The bill was taken over by Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) after Deal resigned from the House to run for Governor. The bill is one of NumbersUSA's "5 Great Immigration-Reduction Bills."

How Sarah Palin could overlook such a great American - and support someone running against him - I don't know.

I think her candidates losing some races says more about her picks than anything else.