Palin tests her political clout with long-shot pick in Alaska

With Republican insiders watching carefully to see whether she has developed the right stuff for a national presidential run in 2012, Sarah Palin has backed a dark horse in her own backyard this year.

Stepping into an intraparty fight in the Alaska GOP, the former governor has given her endorsement and $5,000 to little-known Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller. Mr. Miller, a former judge, had been running what was widely seen as a quixotic primary race to unseat Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the clear choice of the state party establishment.

Mrs. Murkowski is considered a near lock to hold the seat for Republicans as they fight to reclaim control of the Senate. But to many conservatives in the land of grizzly and polar bears, the second-term lawmaker is a bailout-backing pariah who voted with Democrats more often than any other Senate Republican.

Although Mrs. Palin has said that she hopes to put a number of fellow “grizzly mamas” in office this fall, Mrs. Murkowski - one of just four women in the Senate Republican caucus - apparently does not qualify.

Mrs. Palin revealed her choice via Facebook last month, hailing Mr. Miller, a favorite of the Alaska “tea party” movement, as a “true common-sense constitutional conservative.”

Mrs. Palin’s coveted endorsements have been credited with boosting GOP hopefuls from Senate nominee Rand Paul in Kentucky to gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley in South Carolina. But that clout in the midterm elections may be tested in her home state.

Despite receiving the maximum legal donation from SarahPAC, Mr. Miller cannot begin to match the war chest assembled by Mrs. Murkowski, whose father served as senator and governor and in December 2002 appointed his daughter to the Senate seat she now occupies.

The Miller campaign reported raising $111,000 in the April-to-June quarter and had nearly $125,000 in the bank as of June 30. Mrs. Murkowski was reported have $2.4 million to spend ahead of the Aug. 24 primary.

But Mr. Miller and supporters such as Mrs. Palin are banking on what they see as his wealth of conservative ideas rather than his modest campaign bankroll to score an upset in the primary.

“Lisa’s voting record is just what Miller says it is,” Debbie Joslin, a Republican National Committee member from Alaska, told The Washington Times. “She has always been liberal. Joe is very much conservative. He can have a temper, but is a smart guy who believes everything hes saying.”

The challenger also stands to benefit from the support of the Tea Party Express, which bought $100,000 worth of radio ads to back Mr. Miller and said it is prepared to spend 10 times that in the primary race in one of the country’s most affordable media markets.

Alaska GOP Chairman Randy Ruedrich, who describes himself as a former mentor to Mrs. Palin but has long since become a harsh critic, is no friend of Mr. Miller either. Mr. Miller joined other conservatives in an unsuccessful attempt to oust Mr. Ruedrich as state chairman.

David Eastman, an Alaska tea party activist, said he gives Mr. Miller “about a 40 percent chance” of pulling off the upset, despite his funding and organizational disadvantages.

“A lot of independents don’t like the way Murkowski got appointed to the Senate. She never had to face a real campaign,” Mr. Eastman said.

Mr. Eastman added that he supports Mr. Miller because “Joe’s from Alaska and Lisa’s from Washington, D.C., if you know what I mean.”

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