Who has Palin endorsed that actually won?

[tammywammy]

She didn't endorse Scott Brown. Hoffman lost to Owens in NY's 23rd (historically a republican district).

Has she actually endorsed anyone that went on to win the general election?

[spanone]

1. she's the political black plague, perfect for gramps.

[Siwsan]

2. I was just thinking the same thing

So, if McCain LOSES in the primary, will that be the death knell for her endorsements?

[tammywammy]

3. McCain's already sinking.

She did endorse Perry in Texas and he won the primary, but he's definitely not a shoo in for governor.

[hughee99]

4. What does it really matter?

Palin isn't the only politician with a woeful record for endorsing candidates over the last year. No one cares (for better or worse) who she likes. She doesn't help anyone, but she doesn't hurt them either. At MOST, maybe she can help them raise a little money.

[theoldman]

5. I still think she would help a person who needed a slight bump.

Remember that the most extreme right wing-nuts follow her like a Judas goat. If McCain is already ahead of his opponent he does not need her help. If it's close he will need her help.

[TexasObserver]

6. Maybe Scott Brown? It's a good point.

[tammywammy]

8. She never endorsed Brown.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31698.html

"Asked by Van Susteren to explain why she did not formally endorse Brown before the election, Palin praised Brown's campaign for relying on "shoe leather" campaigning instead of national surrogates."

[TexasObserver]

14. Great. Then that means she doesn't even have ONE.

[anigbrowl]

7. Doesn't matter at this stage...they're still in underdog mode.

by that I mean that they get all the publicity they need from fielding candidates, with none of the awkwardness of having to deliver on their big promises because they're not being elected, so far. Losing is fine because they can say that the game was rigged against them, they're going to fight even harder etc., so they can keep running on the 'outsider' schtick for quite a while. Revolutionaries often spend several years in the political wilderness, if you look at history, but that doesn't bother their supporters much because it just confirms their sense of alienation.

The critical transition comes when an incumbent party is failing and about to lose an election (and don't fool yourself that this won't happen to us sooner or later) the party the upstarts are bleeding away votes from (in this case the GOP) isn't quite strong enough to win an outright victory. Once an upstart party agrees, usually in secret, to go into coalition with a weakening existing party, then they stop competing against each other directly and both focus attacks on the outgoing incumbents, which the upstarts hope will result in a hung parliament and bring them into government as junior coalition partners.

Once that happens, you can get an avalanche effect, and junior coalition partner will often ditch its host just before an election, often on a pretext, and run on a separate platform which results in a large increase in the number of seats they hold and greatly enhanced negotiation power. One of the good thing about the US is its constitutional requirement for fixed election, in contrast to many other countries where a parliamentary bustup can result in an unexpected snap election. Holding elections on a fixed schedule makes it more difficult to pull these kinds of stunts for the sake of short-term electoral gain.

[katanalori]

9. Chambliss in Georgia

Mrs. Todd Palin campaigned for him - Chambliss was already a shoo-in, but she took credit for his win.

[tammywammy]

10. Thanks n/t

[merh]

11. She claimed to have talked to Brown but he denies it.

Why Is Scott Brown Denying Ever Speaking to Sarah Palin?

-snip-

So why, wondered The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, did Brown say he had never spoken to Palin?

On Election Night, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton confirmed the call to Politico. "Gov. Palin spoke with a very happy Sen.-elect Brown this evening and congratulated him on his most historic victory for not only Massachusetts but the nation," Stapleton said.

Felix Browne, a spokeperson for the senator-elect, also said Brown spoke with the former Alaska governor on Jan. 19.

But Brown told The Associated Press on Jan. 28, nine days after his victory, "I don't know Sarah Palin. I've never spoken with her. She's never reached out, vice versa."

[activa8tr]

12. Good question! I think she endorsed Bush, in 2000, but

I think she endorsed Bush, in 2000, but we know he really didn't win.

[activa8tr]

13. Maybe the President of France?.... oh wait, that was some guy

in Montreal who was pretending to be Sarkosy!

[Jade Fox]

15. The GOP has a very slow learning curve....

They never give up on any tactic until they've beaten it into the ground. They're convinced that because a lot of non-too-sharp people just kinda like her, Palin is a serious political force.

Personally, I'm glad Palin has a TV show. The more she is revealed, the fewer people take her seriously. Exposure is her nemesis. That has been true since she first came to national attention.