Despite Sarah Palin's decision to wade into Sen. Lisa Murkowski's primary election fight by endorsing conservative challenger Joe Miller, the ex-Alaska Governor hasn't taken to the campaign trail to shake-up the race going down in her home state.
Within the past week, Palin has sought to boost Miller's political operation by voicing support on her Facebook page, as well as more recently by recording a robo-call for the Tea Party-backed contender. The one-time Alaska leader, however, has yet to make an in-town appearance alongside Miller with the state's primary election just one day away.
Scott Conroy reports:
Why hasn't she at the very least made an in-town appearance for Miller, who is depending on strong turnout in the heavily conservative Mat-Su Valley where Palin lives?
Miller campaign spokesperson Randy DeSoto said that Palin "may do one other thing for us within the next day or so" before Tuesday. DeSoto declined to elaborate but was perhaps referring to a robocall that Palin has recorded for Miller, which was featured late Sunday night on the pro-Palin web site Conservatives4Palin.com.
"I don't think she'll be doing a campaign stop-she normally doesn't do that with all the candidate's she's endorsed," DeSoto said, before adding, "I mean, it could happen but there's nothing on her schedule at this point."
The possibility remains open it seems that Palin's decision to inject herself into the Alaska primary could have more to do with a history of friction she maintains with Murkowski and less to do with Miller's candidacy.
Palin swiped her home state's Republican gubernatorial nomination from then-Gov. Frank Murkowski, the incumbent lawmaker's father, back in 2006. Several years before the showdown, in 2002, then-newly-elected Gov. Murkowski appointed daughter Lisa to succeed him in the Senate, after reportedly considering Palin for the job, when he resigned to assume his new political post.
As for Murkowski, the GOP incumbent's reelection team appears less than pleased with Palin's presence in the primary.
"I'm going to go back to something my mother told me on that," said Steve Wackowski, a spokesman for Murkowski's camp, when asked about Palin's Facebook-delivered assault on the GOP lawmaker's candidacy. "If you don't have anything nice to say, you don't say it at all."
Nevertheless, Palin's conservative star power and Miller's conservative principles seem to make the pair logical political allies. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and the Tea Party express have also endorsed the Senate hopeful's candidacy despite Murkowski's status as the favorite in the race.
"[Miller is] a commonsense conservative, who understands that the founders wrote the Constitution to limit the power of the federal government," says Palin in a recently-recorded robo-call for the Alaska primary contender. "By contrast, Lisa Murkowski has voted with the Democrats more than any Republican up for reelection this year."
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