Dems should hope Sarah Palin carries out her threat to run for Senate

Public Policy Polling: Alaska should be a top tier pick up opportunity for Senate Republicans next year…but their top choice of a candidate is Sarah Palin. 36% of GOP primary voters in the state say they’d like Palin to be their standard bearer against Mark Begich to 26% for Mead Treadwell, 15% for Dan Sullivan, and 12% for Joe Miller. Palin leads mostly based on her strength with ‘very conservative’ voters where she gets 43% to 20% for Treadwell, but she also leads him 28/25 with moderates.

The problem for Republicans with a Palin candidacy is that even though she is in good standing with the party base, voters overall don’t like her at all. She has a 39/58 favorability rating, including 33/64 with key independent voters. There’s a lot of division about how strong her ties to the state even are anymore- only 47% of voters consider her to still be an Alaskan while 46% don’t, and 37% of voters in the state think it would be more appropriate for her to run for the Senate from Arizona to 41% who say Alaska.

It all adds up to a 52/40 lead for Begich in a hypothetical match up with Palin. He leads by 21 points with independents, 56/35, and takes 20% of the Republican vote. It’s a slight improvement for Palin from February when we found her trailing Begich 54/38, but she’s very much in a hole.

I doubt Palin will run and I doubt that she was ever going to run. The only reason that she said she was thinking about it was because her fifteen minutes of fame had run out and she was desperate for some headlines.

Still, Democrats should hope she does run, just in case. Without Sarah Palin, Republicans look ready to nominate Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, who PPP calls “the best Republican hope." A race with the Lt. Gov. is much tighter, with a Begich lead of only 44% to Treadwell’s 40%. Oddly enough, that’s actually a worse showing that the polling average for an unnamed generic Republican. Electoral-Vote.com has Begich at 48% and a generic Republican at 47%. So there’s still a bit of good news there.

In any case, I don’t think the nation is in danger of being subjected to a Palin campaign. I doubt she’d ever run for anything again, unless she’s guaranteed a win. In this case, she’s guaranteed a loss.

[photo by Gage Skidmore]

Stories to Watch: 3/11/11

Whoops! Running late. So you get the headlines after dinner. Hope it was good. Now here's the news...


Radiation from an earthquake-damaged nuke plant in Japan reached levels "1,000 times normal," according to reports. The same report tells us that the government issued "an unprecedented order" to release pressure -- and one assumes radiation -- from the plant. As evidence of how serious this is, the government ordered a mass evacuation of the area. Reuters reports that coolant from the US was not delivered, presumably because of the order to open the valve. In other words, it seems it would've come too late.


A spokesperson for the State Department calls the treatment of detained leaker Bradley Manning "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Amen.


Five terrorists have been arrested in Alaska for plotting to kidnap and kill state troopers and a judge. Note to Rep. Peter King -- they aren't Muslim, they're right wing nutjobs.


Scott Walker signs his union-buster into law, while a judge refuses to issue a temporary restraining order against it. However, it seems a lawsuit against the law will go forward. Remember Wisconsin people, vote for JoAnne Kloppenburg on April 5. This fight is going to the courts.


In related news, some Walker backers are losing their shirts. Great investment there, guys.


President Obama defends NPR and PBS from pointless, partisan cuts.


Finally, new polling shows Independents turning all big gummint socialist.

Probe: Palin Abused Power

clipped from voices.washingtonpost.com Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) abused her executive power when she fired her public safety commissioner this year in the midst of an intense effort to oust her former brother-in-law from the state police force, a special prosecutor has concluded. Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, had been accused of dismissing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, a career law enforcement official, after he rebuffed attempts by Palin, her husband Todd, and cabinet officials to reopen an investigation into Palin's brother-in-law, state Trooper Mike Wooten. After his firing, Monegan said he believed that comments in conversations and e-mails from Palin, her husband Todd and other state officials were an attempt to get him to fire Wooten.

As if McCain needed another nail in his electoral coffin.

See also; Investigation ties Palin to 'extreme right-wing fringe'

Protest Sign of the Year?

clipped from www.flickr.com Alaskans for Truth Rally, Anchorage, AK

What could I possibly add?

Alaska Still Pursuing 'Bridge to Nowhere'

clipped from www.propublica.org Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has portrayed herself as a foe of pork-barrel spending, pointing in particular to her role in killing the $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere” between Ketchikan (pop. 7,400) and its airport on Gravina Island (pop. 50). I "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" she said in her speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. "If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves." But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original project.

Not only was Palin not against the project in the beginning, but her administration is still trying to get it done. The piece goes on:

"What the media isn't reporting is that the project isn't dead," Roger Wetherell, spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Transportation, said. In a process begun this past winter, the state’s DOT is currently considering (PDF) a number of alternative solutions (five other possible bridges or three different ferry routes) to link Ketchikan and Gravina Island.

She wasn't for it before she was against it, Palin was for it before she was for it, but said she was against it.

Palin Charged State for Time She Spent at Home

clipped from www.propublica.org This morning's Washington Post takes a bite out of another one of Gov. Sarah Palin's reformer boasts. In addition to touting her supposed opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere," Palin has crowed about cutting back on the perks of being governor. But as today's Post reports, Palin apparently believes "our citizens should have to pay" for her to live at home. The capital of Alaska is Juneau, but Palin prefers to stay in her family home in Wasilla, which is about 600 miles away. Palin commutes to work in a state office building in Anchorage, a 45-minute drive.

Remember how I said we didn't need to make stuff up to criticize Sarah Palin about? This is an example; there's plenty of stuff to hit her on that have the advantage of being real.

The piece goes on:

Palin has drawn a per diem allowance for 312 nights spent at home since she took office 19 months ago, the Post reports, for a total of $16,951. Per diem expenses are supposed to cover officials when they're traveling on state business. The Post quotes "officials" as explaining that Palin has drawn the per diem because her "duty station" is Alaska's capital, Juneau -- the logic being that in staying at home, Palin is effectively traveling.

That may not seem like much, but there are people for whom $16k is their annual income. Some of those people live in Alaska.

As Mayor, Palin Charged Victims for Rape Kits

clipped from www.motherjones.com An interesting catch by the folks over at AMERICAblog. They found an article from the Wasilla newspaper dated May 23, 2000, that notes the city of Wasilla was one of a few Alaskan municipalities that charged women claiming to have been raped for their own forensic tests. As you probably know by now, Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996-2002. While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests. In the article, Fannon admits that halting the practice of charging alleged rape victims for their own tests would cost the city... wait for it... $5,000 to $14,000 a year.

Fannon is Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon.

What happens when you don't have enough money to report a rape? Should "not enough money to report a rape" even be a string of words that are ever uttered in the United States?

While Palin was saving $14,000 a year tops, she spent $1 million on a "emergency communications center" that "local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion" -- paid for with pork.

Nice set of priorities you got there, Sarah...

Palin's 'Troopergate' in a Nutshell

Sarah Palin's ethics probe in brief, offered primarily because of the number of links, from the reliably thorough investigative journalism site ProPublica:

clipped from www.propublica.org Walter Monegan and Sarah Palin, inset (Credit: Al Grillo/AP Photo, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) After Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shot into the spotlight as John McCain's VP pick last week, "Troopergate" - the controversy surrounding the ouster of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan - made it onto our Scandal Watch. According to Monegan, both Palin and her husband pressured him to fire a state trooper who went through an ugly divorce with Palin's sister in 2005. In July, Monegan was unexpectedly fired. And an Alaskan legislative panel ordered an investigation soon after. Its findings are now expected to be released in early October. Meanwhile, investigator says the McCain camp is trying to delay its release, and Palin's private lawyer has already challenged the investigation's authority and questioned witnesses on its own. A former Alaskan attorney general called Palin's legal strategy bogus, but it already prompted a key Palin aide to refuse to testify.

Palin as Russia Expert Becomes GOP Talking Point

clipped from blogs.dw-world.de It looks like this is turning into some kind a talking point: On Sunday, in remarks to ABC, Cindy McCain said Sarah Palin had foreign policy experience because the state she governs, Alaska, is near Russia; then, to a fellow CQ reporter, former Bush administration official John Bolton offered the same defense of her, adding proximity to Canada as a qualification. It really is a bemusing strategy. Of all the arguments one could make for John McCain picking Palin, it offers the least. Via Political Animal: "Has Palin ever been to Russia? No. Has she ever demonstrated any expertise on U.S. policy towards Russia? No. Does she have any background in international relations at any level? No. But for Republicans, the fact that she's lived near Russia is somehow a qualification for national office. The mind reels."

It's a measure of how weak the pro-Palin argument is that this becomes a Republican talking point. Cindy McCain could be excused for saying it, but John "former Ambassador to the UN" Bolton? He knows it's total BS.

The Palin part of the team offers a very weak agreement with this argument, revealing that they're aware of just how lame it is; "Alaska’s geographic location certainly contributes to Governor Palin’s experience since she has dealt with trade and economic issues as a result, but it is only one part of her overall experience."

Griper Blade: Senate GOP Going Down the Series of Tubes

Yesterday turned out to be a bad day for Republicans in Washington. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens found himself into a little trouble. Stevens, who'd made himself famous with a bridge to nowhere and his assertion that the internet is "not a big truck. It's a series of tubes," was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing $250,000 in gifts and services given to him by an oil company.

"This is very bad for the party," a retiring GOP Senator told Politico. "The timing on this couldn’t be worse." According to Politico's piece, "Now, there’s an arrest warrant out for the 84-year-old senator. He’s been stripped of his top committee rankings. His iconic career is crumbling. His hopes for reelection are in serious doubt.

"And Senate Republicans have no idea what to do about it. "

Of course, the "what to do about it" question isn't so much about pulling Stevens' fat out of the fire, it's about their own political careers. Republicans, never ones to embrace the "we're all in this together" mindset, have adopted as their motto "every man for himself!"

The indictment pretty much pounds the final nail in the coffin containing Stevens' reelection prospects. He was nine points down in polling against rival Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage, before the indictment. To give you an idea of how far Ted has fallen in public opinion, Stevens was reelected six years ago with a nearly unheard of 78%...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

AK Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted

clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com A federal grand jury has indicted longtime Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, on corruption charges after more than a year’s investigation, a federal law enforcement official has confirmed to The Times’s David Johnston. Just a year ago, federal agents raided Mr. Stevens’ home following questions about renovations at the home. A few months before that, an Alaska businessman Bill J. Allen admitted to bribery, and in court papers acknowledged making $243,000 in possibly illegal payments to a state lawmaker identified only as “Senator B.” That abbreviation referred to Senator Ted Stevens’s son, Ben Stevens. The 84-year-old senator is up for re-election this year while under investigative scrutiny, a matter that had not gone unmentioned by Democrats. His opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has been campaigning hard against the longest-sitting Republican member of the Senate, and Democrats were hopeful that Mr. Begich would be a serious contender.

Who will remind us that the internet is "not a big truck. It's a series of tubes" now?