A look at how Sarah Palin is playing in Alaska

John McCain's surprise pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate undoubtedly fired up his party's base and initially appeared to boost his political prospects.

The L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll completed earlier this week, though, raised the prospect that among the public at large, she's become a drag on him -- or at least a wash.

The survey found a virtual tie in attitudes toward Palin: 43% gave her a thumbs up, 42% a thumbs down. Slightly more -- 27% -- said she made them less likely to vote for McCain than those who said she upped the chances they would do so -- 22% (the majority -- 50% -- said her presence on the ticket would not affect their vote).

Back in her home state, Alaska's leading newspaper today decided to hold forth what has happened -- politically -- to Palin since she was thrust onto the national stage less than eight weeks ago. Sean Cockerman of the Anchorage Daily News asserts that she "has morphed on the national campaign trail from bipartisan small state governor to a conservative lightning rod."

He goes on:

Even if she doesn't win the vice presidency, her political career will never be the same. If she returns (to Alaska), the Republican governor will face former Democratic allies furious at her campaign attacks. She will also face lawmakers from both parties ticked off at her handling of the so-called Troopergate investigation and her recent false assertions that the investigator's report cleared her, according to interviews with a number of lawmakers and others who watch Alaska politics. ...

But Palin would also return as a national figure who excited huge crowds across the nation and is already being described as a potential presidential candidate four years from now. She continues to enjoy high approval ratings among Alaskans, and she would come back a seasoned campaigner with new political chops.

If McCain loses the presidential election, Palin would face re-election as governor in 2010. One of Alaska's two U.S. Senate seats also is up that year, but it's already occupied by a female Republican: Lisa Murkowski. That would be the daughter of Frank Murkowski, the incumbent governor Palin trounced in the 2006 GOP primary on her way to becoming the state's chief executive.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[James Stroud]

Palin should get used to Alaska. She is never going to have another shot at a national political career because the Alaskan legislature is going to shred her for troopergate. She won't come out of it without at least a misdemeanor charge. Moreover, the GOP is not going to take another chance on her as a presidential candidate. She polarizes in a way that repels moderates. That's not good for national elections.

[captain]

I love how Palin uses her son's service in Iraq as a comeback toward any potential well deserved heckling....like our occupation in Iraq has ever threatened our right of free speech. Of course this goes along with the whole notion of saying anything and assuming that most people are too stupid to figure it out for themselves. This ego maniacal ex model/beauty queen, weather-girl TV news anchor wannabe has unknowingly cemented her reputation as being one of the biggest jokes ever in the history of American Politics....Thanks for the entertainment, Sarah...only a few more weeks and its back to Alaska where you belong, if they'll take you back, that is

[Franklin]

Who is talking about her as a running mate four years from now?!? The only names that possibly come to mind are Sarah Palin, Karl Rove and Satan.

[Jill]

Palin is a celebrity, not a serious candidate for anything. She does remind me a little of Marion Barry, the discredited politician in DC who was convicted on cocaine charges, served time, and was subsequently re-elected. It just goes to show that celebrity does have its benefits. But as a serious politician on the national stage, she's been exposed as a fraud. She would not survive the primaries in the next presidential campaign if there is any other credible and qualified candidate running against her.

[Jerry Ulibarri]

Unless Palin overcomes her aversion to press conferences and interviews, we won't be seeing her in another presidential campaign.

The woman is a joke, and I'll be surprised if she gets another term as Alaska's governor.

I WON'T be suprised if she doesn't finish her current term.

[lorenzo]

Then, God may help Alaska!

[Matt]

Yeah, right.
There is no way she runs for president. What a joke.

[oh god]

Palin as president?

hahahahaha!

[mchristin]

"potential presidential candidate"! she can not even give a news conference, sounds like an idiot in interviews, and would be at home in the Adams Family. I would suspect her fifteen minutes of fame will be over nov.5th.

[alek]

Potential presidential candidate? Huckabee was nearly as conservative as her and look whos the republican candidate now (McCain the "maverick" who wasn't so conservative in the primaries)

[galegal]

If McCain does not win, Palin will end up dog meat in AK. She will have some time to put it behind her before the next election but I'm betting she will keep digging the hole deeper. This woman does not have a desire to do the job she's running for, only to win the pageant she's running in.

[Nat Alaska]

This is vey true, Palin has angered many here in Alaska! Can you say 1 term govnah?

[Mayjerr]

Alaskans need to get a life. How could they continue to support such a figure who has just been proven, by neutral parties, to use her authority in unethical ways and still come back and claim otherwise? She does this with a straight face, in front of cameras. But, of course, if her supporters choose to continue to hold her with high regard after everything, they deserve what they get. Oh, by the way, she is not at all a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" type of person. She is simply very good at playing the role.

[Rattlesnake Bob]

With the world on the brink of complete economic collapse and increasing military conflict about the globe, I doubt that an older and grayer Sarah Palin will ignite voters' imagination in four years. Let's face it, Sarah has not made an impact in this election because of her intellect, or foreign policy and economic knowledge. By 2012, today's good ol' boy Republicans will be bankrupted at least once, and they will be born again Democrats, and much less enamored by the hottest governor from the coldest state.

[Ol' Whip]

I guess we can add "Ethics Reports" to the long list of things she doesn't read.

[Rick form Anchorage]

If Sarah Palin returns to Alaska as our governor, she’ll have a lot of explaining to do.
*
Her position on the outcome of the Troopergate investigation is a direct contradiction to the findings and may have fueled further action on the issue. There is still the state personnel board investigation on her conduct.
*
There are questions of why Todd Palin has the level of access to the power of the governor’s office, confidential meetings, and confidential documents that were demonstrated by the investigation.
*
Alaska is an extremely ethnically diverse state and her personal attacks against the Democratic candidate have demonstrate a lack of tolerance for diversity.
*
Many Alaskans want to know why she stated that she was against the “bridge to nowhere” on a national stage, but while she was running for governor she expressed vocal support for it. And if she was so concerned about accepting federal earmarks, why didn’t she order the money returned to the federal government: the money was accepted and spent on other projects in the state.
*
We’ve watched her stretch the truth, lie, and make enemies of some of her biggest supporters here in the state; this isn’t the Sarah Palin we knew as the governor of our state.
*
Prior to her accepting the VP nod and becoming McCain’s attack dog she enjoyed bipartisan support in our legislature and a great deal of support from state democrats; those days are over.
*
If she returns to Alaska she’ll have her work cut out for her with the state legislature and the people who elected her as governor.

[geek]

Governor Palin has nothing to be proud of. Plucked from the darkness of Alaska to the National spotlight she went from the penthouse to the outhouse in 3 weeks.

Family issues, interviews that were unflattering bordering on inept, incompetence in dealing with a simple management / personnel issue, inane attacks have destroyed any future she thought she had.

Worse, she became a negative for Senator McCain for which he has to accept responsibility.

If Palin thinks that her language and campaign tactics is what works today, she deserves to be out of politics.

[Joe]

And now Palin is vowing to win the "economic war" in America. Because we ALL know what a great record the Republicans have with these wars! I'm a Republican, but this is crazy. McCain should have picked someone to help him govern, not someone to help him get elected. I saw the state polls, I know why he took the gamble. But he really should've fixed the glaring weaknesses in his campaign like the lack of any coherent economic message rather than going for the unlikely win.

McCain is toast. The ONLY hope I can imagine is if he fired all the Rove-connected staff, replaced Palin with Romney, and gave no-holds barred interviews saying his aides put him up to this nonsense because they thought he needed to do it to get elected, but that he doesn't care if he loses, he'd rather lose as himself than win as a phony.

But once bitten, twice shy. I doubt even that would save his campaign. He has to be almost 2% ahead to have better than even odds of beating Obama, because Obama has very strong numbers in some important swing states like Iowa. He took Palin to attempt to redraw the map and get out of that deficit. Unfortunately, Palin painted the map blue...

[Doug]

Palin is an example of a certain type of politician - those who can give a great speech but have no real ability beyond that. Unfortunately, we have elected too many of this type of politician in the last decade or so.

I'm a skeptical Obama supporter. Skeptical because it is hard to tell whether a person has true ability. Obama certainly gives great speeches.

But for 10 months, I've also watched how he ran his campaign. How he responded to attacks from Clinton and McCain. How he responded to his own mistakes.

And I've concluded that Obama has true ability. His long shot campaign has been almost flawless. When things didn't go his way, he didn't get angry or flustered. He didn't make any of the mistakes most first time candidates make.

I'll continue to be skeptical right up until election day. Maybe it all is a mirage. Or maybe he really is the best candidate in the last 50 years.

[basementfrog]

The woman is no dumber that Reagan or Bush.

The Republicans don't pick their hopefuls based on brains or leadership.

They want followers who listen to orders from the people who put them in office: the Cheneys of the dictate to them what their supporters want to get out of their administrations.

It's not leadership abilities but marketability as Eisenhower learned in 1952 campaign.

For Republican brains and leadership are handicaps.

[Joe]

Remember you read it here:

Sarah Palin may or may not serve out her term as Governor of Alaska.

After that, however, she will never again run for office.

It is likely that she will become a scripted talking head for Fox, or perhaps a game show host like Regis.

Politically, she will FOREVER be a pariah. She has NO friends left except the lunatic fringe, and they have the attention span of a begonia.

Thank you, John McCain and the Republican Party. Palin takes everyone's attention away from your main act: W.

You can't make this stuff up!

[elena banquilla]

i am interested in the u.s. presidential elections even if i cannot vote as i am a filipino citizen. the man who would be elected is going to be th emost powerful man on earth . we have fox, cnn, bbc, al jazeera, msnbc to give us a blow-by-blow account of the whole election process here in the philippines.what i cannot understand is why fox news is allowed to be the apologist of john mccain. how could they allowed this most biased tv to harangue and malign barack obama 24/7 . and they glorify mccain and palin 24/7. i am so shocked that they are allowed to bully guests, scream at them when they don't agree with the anchors etc. and they claim they are america's no. cable news channel. are
most americans this parochial, unsophisticated,j bigoted,jingoist.
i know this is off topic but i just can't understand a news channel would bash a certain candidate 24/7. this kind of thing would cause an uproar here .

[Paul Stewart]

Palin will be less than Quayle. And, she will never be Veep to boot.

[Peto]

John McCain is a fighter! He's proving it tonoght - he wants to duke it out instead of have discussions on the issues. He's calling all his collegues corrupt, he calling Bush a bust and anybody who gets in his way he is ruthless in his attacks. Sara Pallin and John McCain are fighters and dividers. McCain is ruining the debate - he can't have a discussion he is all about attacks.

[Mayjerr]

To respond to Ms. Elena Banquilla from the Philippines... fox news is doing nothing more than enjoying their right to freedom of press and free speech, which is the american way of life. we would prefer it no other way. However, if McCain and Palin end up in the White House, there is the fear that many of the rights we have fought for and long enjoyed, such as women's freedom to choose to forego an unwanted pregnancy, may well be on its way out.