The Controversial Sarah Palin Endorsement

Today, Sarah Palin released another endorsement via her Facebook page that is causing not-so-abnormal-controversy. Terry Branstad for Iowa Governor?

Her post:

Iowa, your great state’s motto is “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.” That motto will be well served by voting for Terry Branstad for governor next Tuesday!

Please join me in supporting Governor Branstad’s campaign. Visit his website here, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

- Sarah Palin

Followed by almost 400 comments, the opinions seem to range from exited approval to vehement disapproval, however, disapproval makes up the overwhelming majority.

"Big mistake endorsing Branstad. He is part of the good ole boys club (RINO) who masquerades as a conservative. I think you forgot to do your homework on his one. The other 2 candidates running against him are true conservatives. We HAD Terry Branstad before; we don't need him again."

"It seems like you are aligning yourself with Mitt Romney and the GOP establishment more and more these days instead of with the Tea Partiers. I think I will stick with Mike Huckabe, Chuck Norris, Dr. James Dobson, Michael Farris and David Barton, the Des Moine and Dubuque Tea Partiers and vote for the true Conservative, Bob Vander Plaats."

She hasn't responded to the comments on her page yet, but will soon, I am certain. I'll pass it on as soon as it's up.

The reason, it seems, for conservatives lack of approval in this endorsement, is found in the fact that conservatives in Iowa are scared of what Branstad will do if he becomes Governor. Likewise, a lack of trust is starting to develope in the relationship between conservatives/tea party people and Palin. Her CA Senate endorsement, along with ID-1, is giving the impression that she may not be as strategic in her endorsements as we would like her to be. But it begs the question: who is advising her to make these endorsements?

The final consensus of one sums it up nicely: "She is a good person, but she, at bare minimum, is surrounded with incompetent advisors."

The primary this Tuesday should be a doozy. Stay tuned!

The Power of Ken Cuccinelli's Endorsement Part II

Some reason I feel like this story may have a lot of parts to it by the time the year is out...

In January we saw the importance of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's endorsement when his endorsement of Howie Lind in the 10th District Chairman Race lead to Jim Rich dropping out.

This past week we saw it in the LCRC Chairman race. Days before the vote the endorsement went public, and then he and his staff agressively contacted Loudoun voters on behalf Mark Sell. While Mark's team worked very hard, Ken's endorsement plaid a very big role in a close race that saw the sitting chairman and most of the executive board actively backing Candace Strother.

Ken Cuccinelli's endorsement is one that matters in party races and primaries, because he actively helps those he endorses and it pays off. If people want his endorsement in the future they need to stand with him now as he comes under attack for fighting for conservative principles. Standing with Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is the right thing to do and the politically smart thing to do.

New Cuccinelli Unit Chair Endorsements

Yesterday the unit chairs from Roanoke Co, and Chesterfield Co., Graham Leonard, and Donald Williams endorsed Ken Cuccinelli.  If Brownlee can't even get the chairman of his own local committee to endorse him, I wonder who he has endorsing him.  We can only wonder as Brownlee has no list of endorsements on his website.

The campaign now has endorsements from the five units with the most votes at the convention: Fairfax Co, City of Virginia Beach, Chesterfield Co, Henrico Co, and Prince William Co.  The campaign also has endorsements from ten of the fifteen largest units.  Too see a list of Ken's other endorsements, check here.