Is Sarah Palin's star dimming in her home state of Alaska, even as she throws her fur lined camo hat into the ring for President in 2012. Palin and Miller have to be disappointed with tonight's puny turnout in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage. Just seven short weeks ago Palin and Beck drew what the Anchorage Daily News described as "tens of thousands" to their rally to "Restore Honor" in Anchorage. The difference between the two Rallies is stark indeed.
Palin joins Miller at rally, drawing a few hundred supporters
Updated: Former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and state Sen. Fred Dyson made speeches, but as of 8:07 p.m., Sarah Palin had not appeared. Some people were starting to leave.
An estimated 300 to 350 people cheered on Senate candidate Joe Miller, who appeared at a rally Thursday that included former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and other big names in the GOP.
Has Miller dragged Palin down with him as his miserably run campaign has unraveled in the national spotlight.
The A.D.N. piece shows that many in attendance drove down from the stronghold of Alaska's radical right in the Mat-Su Valley.
The crowd included many who made the drive down from Wasilla and the Mat-Su Valley, despite the snow Thursday night. Miller, the Alaska Republican Senate candidate locked in a three-for-all race for the seat held by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, was all smiles, even if the crowd was far smaller than the Glen Beck-Sarah Palin 9/11 rally last month in Anchorage.
The event was expected to include appearances via video from 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and South Carolina's Sen. Jim DeMint, the campaign worker said.
Even this all star Republican lineup failed to draw much interest or enthusiasm from Alaskans in the Anchorage area where about half the state's population lives. The outlook for the Miller Campaign could hardly be bleaker.
This is NOT an auspicious way for Palin to kick off her Presidential bid.
Scott McAdams' ActBlue Page
Update Bad News for Murkoski:
Alaska radio host stirs up write-in competition for Murkowski
Listeners heed a popular conservative radio host's call to mount their own campaigns in an effort to derail the senator's bid to keep her seat. The move comes as she surges ahead of 'tea party' Republican Joe Miller in a pair of polls.
By day's end, dozens of people had flocked to the Division of Elections in Anchorage to file for the U.S. Senate seat before the 5 p.m. deadline. Many more apparently heeded KFQD host Dan Fagan's exhortation to download and fax in write-in applications in what he admitted was an attempt to confuse voters who ask for a list of certified write-in candidates before entering the ballot box.
I wonder if any Lisa M.s registered as write in candidates? In any case those hotly disputed late write in candidate lists are going to be a lot longer now. Did the Miller campaign egg Dan Fagan on?
Murkoski is also is taking the feud on the Right up a notch with her cutting new attack ad aimed at the Miller campaign's proclivity for putting inquisitive editors in bondage, and Joe's admiration for East German authoritarian techniques.
I also want to note the AP's story leaves out any mention of the disappointing turnout for the Palin/Miller rally, preferring instead to focus on Palin's words.
Palin takes aim at Murkowski during rally
Palin avoided using Murkowski's name in addressing the hundreds of people gathered in Anchorage for a "Change D.C." rally but it was clear who she meant. In describing Miller's two chief rivals in the race, she said one is an "out of touch liberal" and the other was mayor of Sitka. The latter is Democrat Scott McAdams.
Funny how the AP failed to report that Palin was preaching to a pretty small choir.
UPDATE #2: From today's Alaska Daily News:
Scott McAdams: Unknown no more
A lot has changed since the August primary. McAdams has generated more than $1 million in campaign donations. His "town hall" rallies are packed with supportive audiences who leave enthusiastic for their candidate. McAdams is an unabashed Democrat in an Alaska largely dominated by Republican politics -- he talks about protecting a woman's right to choose an abortion and emphasizes labor rights and bringing federal money for state projects.
He calls the U.S. Senate a club of "millionaires doing the bidding of billionaires" and favors increasing Social Security taxes on the nation's highest-paid to keep Social Security afloat. Currently, only the first $106,800 a person makes is taxed to pay into Social Security. McAdams argues that the federal health care law needs to be improved, not repealed, while both Miller and Murkowski say they want to repeal it