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After a stretch in which an endorsement from Sarah Palin was considered a rarity, the former Alaska governor has become something of an endorsement machine as of late. In the past week alone, she has endorsed four candidates, ranging from a tea party contender for Senate in her home state of Alaska to the GOP establishment favorite for Iowa governor. Palin has backed both clear winners and decided long-shots; she's weighed in on behalf of "mama grizzlies," but an extra X chromosome doesn't necessarily mean an automatic endorsement (see Hutchison, Kay Bailey). Some candidates (such as former Redskins tight end...

Having attended a speech of Nikki Haley’s in Atlanta last year, her run for Governor of South Carolina is one I’ve followed. Living here, I’ve also watched the California Senate race. Both situations seemed to be stable: Haley was stuck in fourth, while in California Tom Campbell was staying ahead of second place Carly Fiorina. Then Sarah Palin intervened, and both Haley and Fiorina shot into first place in new polls. Now we have confirmation of both events. Sarah Palin carries respect in the Republican Party. Public Policy Polling checked both primaries. In South Carolina, they show Haley running away...

When Carly Fiorina launched her campaign for U.S. Senate late last year, she wanted little to do with Sarah Palin. "I've never met her," Fiorina replied when asked about the former Alaska governor's leadership skills. "Next question." And Meg Whitman, the front-running GOP candidate for California governor, probably wasn't planning to ask Dick Cheney or Newt Gingrich to endorse her when she launched her ubiquitous ad campaign last fall. But as the races for governor and senator go down to the wire before the June 8 primary, big name Republicans are jumping into the fray with endorsements — 11th-hour nods...

Conservative supporters of Chuck DeVore seem outraged that Sarah Palin didn’t endorse their candidate for the California GOP Senate Primary race to take on Barbara Boxer in the November election. To them, it seemed like the likely thing for her to do and I know DeVore himself had asked for the nod. DeVore’s supporters are operating, to this day on the notion that their guy is the “one true Conservative in the race.” They run off of emotion and perception but they are omitting many facts about the Senate race and about Chuck DeVore himself with their analysis. I’m going...

Now Carly Fiorina tells us that she regards Jesse Jackson with reverence, and she actually worked with Jesse Jackson. And how many millions of dollars did she authorize for Jesse Jackson when she was CEO at Hewlett-Packard? (Hint: at least $15 million) Yet, minority business leaders themselves have been at the forefront of exposing that Jackson took the money and ran, focusing more on shaking down American corporations to finance his Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH gambits than actually to help African Americans, Latinos, and others gain access to meaningful employment in the high-tech community. California Republicans have to consider whether the...

It's crunch time in the volatile battle for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, as Chuck DeVore and Carly Fiorina scramble to inherit voters peeling away from Tom Campbell as they become more familiar with his record and philosophy. Every bit helps in the final stretch of a fluid race, and it's my understanding DeVore will soon be announcing former San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter, Sr., is endorsing him for U.S. Senate. Given that Hunter made his mark as an unwavering advocate for a robust national defense, his endorsement burnishes DeVore's argument that his national security credentials are an asset...

Sarah Palin's 'Mama Grizzlies' by Mark McKinnon Sarah Palin (Evan Agostini / AP Photo) The Alaska sensation is recruiting and endorsing GOP women nationwide—spooking the Democrats. Mark McKinnon surveys her 11 top prospects. I like strong women. I like strong women who speak their minds. (I’m married to one of them.) And I’ve worked with and around many in politics, including Ann Richards, Laura Bush and Sarah Palin. No matter your gender or politics, you have to hand it to her: Palin is fearless. “You don't want to mess with moms who are rising up,” the Wasilla warrior said last...

Carly Fiorina’s dramatic exit from Hewlett-Packard in 2005 was covered extensively by the media, and the former chief executive offered her side of the story in her memoirs. But as she campaigns for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination against two rivals, some voters say they are still trying to sort out what happened and how they feel about her dismissal. One of them -- Craig Covello of Folsom -- took his chance to question her Wednesday night before an audience of several hundred people who gathered for a forum sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots of El Dorado Hills. "Since...

In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country. And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, “I...

Turning to California, we noted last week that a poll, this one by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), indicated Carly Fiorina had moved ahead of Tom Campbell, albeit the two candidates were both within the margin of error. Still, the poll was significant in that Campbell had consistently been narrowly ahead of Fiorina for weeks and this was the first poll to reverse that trend. We wondered at the time if the poll could have been an outlier. Late yesterday Survey USA released a poll which threw cold water on the idea that the PPIC poll was an...

From the Atlantic, I hadn't seen Sarah Palin speak in person since the 2008 elections. If one just watched or read mainstream media accounts of her paid speeches and appearances since then, including some accounts that have been featured on this site, one may have come to the conclusion that Palin was just a money-hungry ex-politician devoid of conviction, half-heartedly speaking to various interest groups and causes to line her pockets and/or raise her national profile to peddle books that she didn't even write herself. Curious about how such memes can develop among supposedly intelligent commentators (most of whom are...

On Wednesday, California Republican strategist and Yolo County supervisor Matt Rexroad loaded up Facebook and put up a short complaint about U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina's embrace of Sarah Palin. The awkward part of this? Rexroad is a managing partner of Meridian Pacific, Inc., a strategy firm hired by... Carly Fiorina. While Rexroad doesn't work on that account, the Fiorina campaign paid Meridian Pacific $31,509.88 for consulting and travel in the first quarter of 2010. Reached by phone, Rexroad stood by the post and stuck up for his colleagues working for Fiorina. "I hope it's not a big deal!" he...

WASHINGTON — A pair of anti-tax groups on Thursday accused Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina of deceptively implying their endorsement in a campaign mailer sent to voters this week. The mailer primarily touts the endorsement Fiorina received recently from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But the piece also includes a section with the header "Conservative Leaders Speak Out," using the names and logos of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Tax Limitation Committee, along with quotes criticizing one of her rivals for the GOP nomination, former Congressman Tom Campbell. Though the mailer does not claim an endorsement of...

A Bright Day for Team Chuck Written by Melanie Morgan    Thursday, 20 May 2010 05:50 The latest PPIC poll is out and shows Carly Fiorina with 25%, Tom Campbell with 23%, and Chuck DeVore with 16%. The margin of error is +/-5% The previous PPIC poll showed Fiorina with 24%, Campbell with 23%, and DeVore with 8%.Here's what you need to know: Chuck DeVore has doubled his support from the last PPIC poll -- and he's within the margin of error of the front-runner.The distance from the first to third is narrowed into the single digits -- ground easily...

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore made sure that the June 8 ballot described him as "Assemblyman/Military Reservist" because, the Irvine lawmaker said, he didn't want to be mistaken for just another politician. Throughout the campaign, DeVore has emphasized his service as a military officer and a young Reagan White House appointee at the Pentagon as experiences that helped make him the most qualified candidate. But at times he appears to have overstated those accomplishments, particularly his experience under fire and his role in the development of a U.S.-Israeli anti-ballistic-missile defense program. He also has faced criticism for acting on...

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has issued a campaign mailer featuring quotes from Sarah Palin, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Tax-Limitation Committee. It includes a photo of Palin as well as logos of the two fiscal conservative organizations. But only the former Alaska governor is backing Fiorina. Both the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Tax-Limitation Committee have endorsed Assemblyman Chuck DeVore,

<p>Sarah Palin’s presence at an event can draw thousands out to see her speak and evoke emotional responses from those who either love or detest her. It appears her presence will become a divisive force in Idaho politics when she comes Friday to the Qwest Arena to stump for Vaughn Ward, a Marine reservist vying with state Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District. There will be protesters out to oppose her visit, but the group won’t be made up of anti-Palin Democrats; it will consist of anti-Palin Republicans angry over her involvement in local politics and her recent political endorsements. The group is being organized by Lucas Baumbach, a Republican candidate for the Idaho State Senate in District 17.</p>

GOP U.S. Senate candidate and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said Wednesday that the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that she is gaining advantage over former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell. And coming on the heels of this week's election results, she said, it means that incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer should "be afraid, be very afraid." The latest poll shows Boxer leading all GOP comers, and gaining significantly with independents -- details below.

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy birthday to youuuuuu Happy birthday to youuuuuu Happy birthday dear Chuck Happy birthday to youuuuuu *confetti shower* (I stole that from his wife) ;-)

The myth in the California Senate race is that Tom Campbell has corralled the moderate/left votes, and Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore are splitting the conservative vote between them. In this myth, DeVore, as the lower-polling candidate, functions as a “spoiler” for Fiorina — who would otherwise win with a united conservative base behind her. As with all myths, this one is wholly false. Of the major polls taken on CA-Sen in the past 90 days, only five of them explicitly polled on ideological identification: Rasmussen, two SurveyUSA polls, LAT/USC, and Field. A survey of those five polls reveals the...