Primary losses blunt power of ‘grizzly’ Palin

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

It’s been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate “cubs” endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary-election losses.

The Republicans’ 2008 vice-presidential nominee promised a pack of “mama grizzly” candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November’s elections. But office-seekers she supported in Kansas and Washington state lost their primaries despite her high-profile endorsements. And Karen Handel lost her runoff contest for Georgia governor a day after sharing an Atlanta stage with Palin.

Now, Alaska’s Senate primary on Tuesday is shaping up as an embarrassing defeat in her own backyard. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to dispatch the challenger Palin has endorsed in the Republican contest.

Palin says it isn’t about picking winners.

“Regardless of whether the many candidates I’ve had the honor of endorsing win or lose this time around, I support them because they boldly shake things up in their primary races,” she said in a Facebook message.

Her choices have included a mix of tea-party favorites and other antiestablishment figures.

She backed former Super Bowl champion Clint Didier over establishment- recruited Dino Rossi in Washington state’s GOP Senate primary. Didier lost Tuesday.

She supported staunchly conservative Rep. Todd Tiahrt in the Kansas GOP Senate primary. He was defeated by Rep. Jerry Moran on Aug. 3.

And she’s going with former New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte over wealthy businessmen Bill Binnie and Jim Bender in the state’s Sept. 14 Senate primary — a move that drew a Page One rebuke in the state’s largest newspaper.

“The race will be won by the candidate who impresses New Hampshire voters, and New Hampshire voters are rarely impressed by what outsiders have to say,” wrote New Hampshire Union Leader publisher Joseph McQuaid.

Indeed, frustration with Palin has seemed to be growing, as she has waded into state races and challenged the national party’s preferred candidates. She has defied Republican campaign committees’ picks in favor of long shots, such as investor Brian Murphy in Maryland. Murphy is running against former Gov. Bob Ehrlich in the Sept. 14 primary.

Palin remains a unifying figure — for Democrats.

She is a favorite target of mockery for her messages on Twitter using colorful language such as “cackle of rads” and “refudiate.”

EMILY’s List, a political organization that aims to elect women who back abortion rights, this week launched a “Sarah Doesn’t Speak for Me” campaign in the hopes of building its membership as well as painting Palin’s candidates as extremists.