KINGMAKER: All Candidates Endorsed by Palin Win Contested Primaries
It isn't just PoliticalArena saying it. It is no secret that we like Governor Palin. We do so for two very important reasons, (1) her legislative accomplishments as governor are only equaled by famed governors such as Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, and (2) Palin took on one of the most powerful corrupt political machines in the country and was able to tear most of it down even though much of it was in her own party. Call her all of the names you want, but any male governor with similar accomplishments would be whispered about for a VP pick.
Quite frankly, we do not care what the conventional wisdom is or what the elite media says, we look at the record, what got done and what didn't and that is how we make our judgments. In politics, words are usually hollow so fruits are the only real substance.
Each of five candidates she has endorsed this year who have faced primaries or other campaigns have won, including former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz, who Tuesday beat the state’s well-connected lieutenant governor for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. …
She has endorsed just nine Republicans this year — five of them women, according to the Web site of SarahPAC, her political committee. In an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Palin said that she is making down-ticket races, not the presidential campaign, a focus of her efforts this year. She called Senate and House races “so instrumental in reforming government, shrinking it, allowing the private sector to grow and thrive.”
This might be easy to dismiss if Palin made a habit of endorsing front-runners, but that’s not been the case. Ted Cruz started off at a large disadvantage to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst in practically every metric imaginable. Dewhurst had Rick Perry’s endorsement, a high profile office, tons of his own money to use in the primary fight, and at one time a huge lead in the polls. In the first round of the primary in May, Cruz only narrowly forced a runoff, at 30% and Dewhurst just a shade under 48%. The Tea Party engagement that Palin helped facilitate took Cruz from 18 points down in May to a 13-point victory this week — a remarkable 31-point turnaround in just two months.
Similarly, Palin backed Tea Party upstart Richard Mourdock against longtime incumbent Dick Lugar in Indiana’s GOP primary. Palin endorsed Mourdock late in the cycle, just a couple of weeks before the primary. Lugar had been up as much as 25 points in the polls in early 2012, but two weeks prior to her endorsement, Mourdock’s internal poll had him even with Lugar. One week after Palin endorsed Mourdock, he was 10 points up on Lugar in what the local newspaper called “a dramatic slide” for the incumbent. By the time the election rolled around one week later, Mourdock ended up with a 22-point victory over the entrenched incumbent.