Don't Underestimate the Power of Palin !

The last round of Republican primaries has established 

one thing: 

Don't Underestimate the Power of Palin !

Unlike any other Republican figure, Sarah Palin has proven 

beyond doubt to have the "endorsement power" that excites

voters and gets them to the polls.

The Great Corporatist Mitt Romney doesn't have this power. 

Neither do Mike Huckabee nor Tim Pawlenty.

After this last round, the Palin endorsement scoreboard is 20 Wins, 

10 losses - a 67% winning percentage. That's good ball in any game.

But when we go behind the raw figures and dig down 

into the details, it gets even more impressive. Most of the 

Palin-endorsed primary victories were won by Tea Party 

backed candidates; most of the losses were candidates 

backed by the Republican "Establishment". And this last fact 

is something you will not find in the Mainstream media, with 

the possible exception of Fox News.

Which leads one to ask the question: "Why did Sarah Palin 

waste her endorsement power on Establishment candidates?" 

Answer: Sarah Palin is a serious politician, who will either 

win the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination or decide who 

does. To get that power, she needs to get political IOU's from 

her party's mainstream, not just the "Tea Party". 

And, as the GOP's hottest commodity, she can literally 

make or break a candidacy with her support.

Think that's a little extreme? Just ask soon-to-be-ousted Senator 

Lisa Murtkowski (R-AK), who lost to Palin and Tea Party

endorsed candidate Joe Miller.

Until two months ago, Sen. Murtkowski was the picture of 

an untouchable Establishment Republican. The daughter of

former Governor Frank Murtkowski (whom Palin defeated

for Governor in 2006), Sen. Murtkowski had $10 million

in the bank, was 20 points ahead in the polls, and was 

cruising toward re-election. Then Palin and the Tea Party

stepped in. 

While Palin endorsed candidate Miller and recorded 

messages for him, Husband Todd and the Tea Party

sprang into action. Going door-to-door and village-to-

village in Alaska's remoteness, The Tea Party and Todd

Palin won the day for Joe Miller - and the reverberations 

were felt all around the country, most especially in Washington

D.C.

Message delivered: If you are an Establishment GOP incumbent,

and Sarah Palin opposes you, you are not safe. And if you are

too closely identified with the GOP "Establishment", a Sarah

Palin endorsement may not save you.

And the details bear this out. Of the fifteen House Candidates

endorsed by Sarah Palin, 9 won and 6 lost. Of the winners,

seven were Tea Party Candidates, and only two were from

the "Establishment". Of the losers, two were Tea Party and 

four were "establishment" - including three incumbents.

On the Senate side, the results were a little more evenly

divided. Two "establishment" Palin-endorsed candidates

won (Carly Fiorina in California and John McCain in Arizona),

two Tea Party candidates lost (in Washington and Kansas),

and Tea Party bright lights Sharron Angle(Nevada) and Rand Paul

(Kentucky) won (and are expected to win in the general election), 

with the help of Sarah Palin's endorsement.

And with the always important Governor's races, Sarah made the 

difference in at least four of the nine contests she endorsed, saving

establishment candidates Susanna Martinez in New Mexico and

Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, as well as engineering the dramatic 

come-from-behind win of Nikki Haley in South Carolina.

Yes, that Nikki Haley - the daughter of Indian immigrants whom

a GOP Establishment figure called a "raghead" in public.

Bottom line - when Sarah Palin makes her run for the White House

in 2012, she'll have an awful lot of folks in the GOP, both in the

"establishment" and out, who will owe her big time.

And in getting her "IOU's" in early, on both sides of the GOP,

she's following in the proven footsteps of the Greatest 

Conservative of our Age, the 40th President, Ronald Reagan.

And she's looking and sounding more and more like The Gipper

every day.