Based on frequent polling, voters are waiting for the right (as in politically) leaders to pull this country up from the pits. With 2014 looming, and looking bad for Democrats, Republicans are liking their chances, waiting to carve out a strong majority in the US Senate and maintain (if not augment) their numbers in the House of Representatives. Of the twenty-plus seats which Democrats must defend in 2014 in the US Senate, at least six are vulnerable, with Democrats representing Republican states. In states like Louisiana to North Carolina, Democratic US Senators must win reelection in states where strong Republican supermajorities have become supermajorities.
One Republican hot spot, cold and dark Alaska, is looking like a warm place for Republicans to reign and shine again. In 2008, long-term incumbent Ted Stevens, the eldest Republican in the US Senate, was indicted for corruption charges. His ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, plus the badly damaged Bush brand, plus the Obama-surge, pushed Stevens out of office in favor of Mark Begich, a centrist Democrat who voted for Obamacare.
With the failures of Obamacare in plain sight in 2013, Republicans are breathing sighs of relief, that they can take back Congress and stall Obamacare as well as the rest of the Obama-Progressive-Juggernaut. Names are floating around for who should challenge Begich and take his place?
Perhaps Joe Miller. With former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s backing, Miller primaried moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski in 2010, the “Establishment” candidate with a capital E. Professional mistakes hampered an otherwise winnable race for Tea Party supported Miller. Murkowski, with independence and initiatives, reclaimed her Senate seat in a write-in run-off.
Where Miller failed in 2010, could Palin succeed in 2014?
Her bravado, her exuberance has its place. Palin upended the Alaska GOP Establishment in 2006, removing the incumbent Republican Governor in the primary, then winning the governor’s seat in the general election. The highlight of the 2008 Republican National Convention as the Vice-Presidential candidate with mainstream-maverick-moderate John McCain, Palin defined the difference between a pit-bull and a Hockey mom (Lipstick) as well as the difference between being a mayor and a community organizer (the mayor actually gets work done). A masterful politician with a record, Palin resurrected much-needed passion at the Republican convention:
Yet her record outside of Alaska may give pause to endorsing her for US Senate in 2014. After a year and a half as Governor, she resigned. Where’s the leadership in that? She went on campaign-rally tours touting “The Tea Party express”. “Richard Nixon with a skirt” (and without tax evasion charges), Pat Buchanan once called her, because She played king-maker in key US Senate races, where more of her candidates won than lost, but certain primary upsets later upset Establishment and Mainstream Republicans, too. The laughable Christine O’Donnell edged out well-connected and certain-to-win Mike Castle in Delaware. Sharron Angle of Nevada said too much and campaigned too little against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Following her intervention in key races, Palin’s political savvy seemed severed to some pundits.
Here's the lesson: “Mama Grizzlies” are perfect for dark woods and lonely cubs, but “grizzled politician” must ingratiate themselves to the voters, with competence with confidence, to win elections. How many other US Senate seats did Palin inadvertently lose for an incumbent to a Democrat in 2010? Or even 2012? The political savvy missing from the Tea Party movement defines the lacking elements in Ms. Palin’s political “Bildungsroman.” She can wow the crowds, but her loud campaigning does not win every election.
Still, a Palin Senatorial bid deserves candid respect as well as candor. Would she work well in the Senate? The former Wasilla mayor, the former Governor, the reality TV show star (who just wife-swapped with Joan Rivers, of all people): could she be on lioness in “a herd of cats”, as political operatives (and Senate majority leaders) refer to the upper chamber? She would be a welcome addition to the Rand Paul-Ted Cruz-Mike Lee Phalanx, which routinely resists taxes, spending, and refuses to compromise on key values. Could she and her fellow senator Murkowski work together? Kentucky’s Rand and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have looked passed their differences (McConnell had endorsed Rand’s primary opponent in 2010). Rand has also run endorsements for Mitch, who faces reelection in 2014, along with Mark Begich. Senator Palin’s steel resolve to get things done, rather than “work together”, would promote the welcome change of atmosphere to the US Senate.
Palin may have been a good Vice-President. She is no King (or Queen) Maker in elections, but would she be an excellent US Senate candidate. She knows Alaska better than the best. A fish who swims against the current, who knows the bears, both the “where” and the “wherefore”, Palin can paddle against the worst and still come up head first. Despite her weak connections to the Lower Forty-Eight, she can corral the numbers in Alaska without asking. Should Palin run for US Senate, Begich will beg for mercy.
Should Palin run for US Senate? Does a Momma Grizzly do “you know what” in the woods?
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