In his resumed weekly Defending Sarah Palin series, Daniel Chioco delineated three reasons why the former Alaska governor is still relevant even though she neither holds office nor is running for one: endorsement power, yearning for her to run via an open convention, and her opponents’ fear.
“First, she gives the most powerful endorsements in the country. This November, we’re not just electing a President. We’re electing congressmen, governors, and the like.”
He said according to Rasmussen, “Gov. Palin’s endorsement is worth five times as much as Joe Biden’s and holds as much clout as Bill Clinton’s. In the 2010 mid-term, her endorsements had a 71% success rate, which is eye-popping, considering that most of these candidates were struggling at the time of their endorsement.”
For 2012, primaries have been held for two out of the five candidates Gov. Palin endorsed and both won, resulting in a 100% success rate.
He recounted how four hours after Gov. Palin endorsed Mourdock over Lugar, “the GOP establishment cavalry announced that it would be pulling out of the race.” Mourdock won with 60% of the vote.
The second reason for Gov. Palin’s relevance, according to Chioco is most conservatives want an open convention (often mislabeled “brokered convention” – these are no longer done), and Gov. Palin is the overwhelming choice to be drafted in such a convention. He flashed an unscientific Fox poll which showed her getting 46.12% of the 134,899 votes cast as of this writing. If Gov Palin does not become a candidate at an open convention, she could use her massive endorsement power to get a true conservative on the ticket, Chioco said.
The final reason is simply because “her opponents tell her so.” He cited the Obama attack ad as evidence. “Why would the Obama team attack Palin if she is no longer relevant? It’s because they fear her endorsement power, a brokered convention, and her willingness to call Obama out on things that the GOP is too girly to touch.”
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