May 18, 2009 Synopsis of Governor Palin's Latest Accomplishments

Following is synopsis of Governor Palin's accomplishments since April 30, 2009. Complete stories are at http://sarahs-accomplishments.blogspot.com.

Governor Palin on May 15, 2009 directed the state Department of Law to file "a supplemental brief with the United States Supreme Court supporting development of the Kensington Mine near Juneau." The mine employs over 400 people, half of whom are Alaskan Natives and earn over $80,000 per year.

Governor Palin signed legislation that will give struggling charter schools a one-year grace period to increase enrollments or integrate with other charter schools. She also signed legislation that authorizes Alaska "to enroll in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children."

The Governor defended Miss California Carrie Prejean's free speech rights in a statement released on the SarahPAC site.

Governor Palin addressed the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission which she chaired at one time; and expressed encouragement about the US Department of the Interior's move on off-shore drilling.

Alaska state employees -- who ultimately report to Governor Palin -- were responsible for mediating a long-standing dispute between the Chugach Electric Association and ConocoPhillips. That dispute had been litigated all the way the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals -- the final court after that would have been the US Supreme Court.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be honored at an Independent Group Home Living (IGHL), Inc. Gala at the Flowerfield in St. James, NY Sunday June, 7, 2009 from 5 PM till 9 PM. Tickets are $125 per person or $1250 for a table of 12. To reserve your space or to request more information about the gala, contact Frank Lombardi, Assistant to the CEO, 631-878-8900 ext. 102, or e-mail him at flombardi@ighl.org.

Governor Palin signed a book deal with Harper Collins and its subsidiary Zondervan to write an auto-biography, which is expected to go on sale in spring 2010.

Governor Palin won four victories regarding ethics complaints. One complaint pertained to an interview Governor Palin gave upon her return from the 2008 POTUS campaign, and the other pertained to when she stumped for Senator Saxby Chambliss. The complaints pertaining to her Indiana visit and SarahPAC, as well as an older complaint regarding spoken content on a ballot measure were both summarily dismissed.
The dismissals bring to 11 out of 14 the number of ethics complaints adjudicated in the Governor's favor and leave three still pending.

Governor Palin conducted site surveys/field visits in Alaska's interior which was subjected to ice jam flooding. She had declared a disaster in the affected region to mobilize funds and resources to get these communities back on their collective feet. The latest blog entry on the subject contains four photos of the Governor's visit to Ft. Yukon and Eagle.

Following enforcement of contracts with the state, ExxonMobil began drilling at Point Thomson -- the first well drilled there in 26 years, fulfilling a state goal to develop oil and gas resources there.

Governor Palin spoke out against the Obama administration's budget cuts to Alaska's missile defense system, a clean water program, and a program which helps the poor in distressed communities.

This item was not published in the mainstream media and was not a gubernatorial press release, but came from a supporter of the Governor's. Emma Macpherson, 15 of Evanston, IL, won an executive board seat on her student council using campaign methodologies similar to Governor Palin's and attributing her inspiration to the Governor.

Former US Attorney Wev Shea wrote a letter to the editor taking the position that the State of Alaska is responsible to defend Governor Palin against ethics complaints -- that she should be having to do this at her own expense.

Governor Palin made seven appointments/re-appointments to boards during the last week. She appointed 46 people to boards, councils, and commissions this year, excluding two judicial appointments and one state Senate appointment.

Governor Palin signed legislation granting birth certificates for stillborn babies.

While taking a trip to Haines and her childhood home of Skagway, Governor Palin signed legislation authorizing the state to fund retirement benefits for Alaska Territorial Guard veterans. The federal government ceased funding benefits on April 1, 2009. Just prior to the trip, Governor Palin was visited by a customized Hummer built as a "rolling war memorial" honoring fallen Marines.

Photos of Governor Palin on the Job for Military Families

GrizzlyBarb has some awesome photos of Governor Sarah Palin's visit to Aurora Elementary School as she signed a bill that helps the children of military personnel adjust to new schools when they have to move. Please visit the site to view them all. The photo above is from the governor's website.

Below is Governor Sarah Palin's press release on the signing of the legislation. Thanks, Governor Palin and the Alaska Legislature, for reaching out to help these kids.

May 15, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today signed two bills into law that will provide a grace period for charter schools experiencing decreased enrollment and authorize the state to enroll in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

“It is so important Alaska’s parents have opportunities to choose what's best for their children’s education,” Governor Palin said. “I appreciate the hard work of all the legislators who spearheaded these bills from introduction to final passage.”

Senate Bill 57, sponsored by Senator Joe Thomas, provides a one-year grace period for charter schools and alternative schools experiencing a decline in enrollment that would make them ineligible for “separate school” status. The legislation also lowers the separate-school threshold for alternative schools from 200 to 175.

Separate schools are funded at a higher level, over $500,000, to accommodate the additional expenses involved. A charter school that had enrollment drop below 150 students, or an alternative school with an enrollment decrease to below 175 students, would receive 95 percent of the funding formula provided to a separate school for one year. This would allow that school an opportunity to make arrangements to increase enrollment, integrate with another school or close.

Charter schools are public schools open to all children, free of charge. They must comply with state laws governing public schools, and they employ state-certified teachers. Charter schools are managed by a parent-elected board of directors that determines the school’s curriculum and teaching methods, within the guidelines of state statutes. Governor Palin signed SB 57 at Academy Charter School in Palmer.

House Bill 137, sponsored by Representative John Coghill, allows Alaska to join other states in an interstate compact intended to develop uniform rules that provide for the educational needs of military dependents. The compact eases enrollment, portability and acceptance of school transcripts and other education records, student class placement, and on-time graduation, and allows collaborative information-sharing among state educational systems. Governor Palin signed HB 137 at Aurora Elementary School on Elmendorf Air Force Base.

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Is mysterious website tipping off McCain's VP?

This is fourth in a series of articles that follow Sarah Palin's rise to national political prominence:

Is mysterious website tipping off McCain's VP? Page suggests this GOP figure will complete party's ticket

Posted: August 18, 2008
9:58 pm Eastern

By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Alaska's Sarah Palin is a bold, first-term Republican governor, a former beauty pageant winner, a mother of five and, if a website of mysterious origin proves prophetic, she could be Sen. John McCain's choice for vice presidential running mate.

Scouring the Internet for possible presidential and VP combinations, most websites – such as McCainRomney.com, McCainHuckabee.com or McCainJindal.com – turn up as domain names for sale or general information sites.

Then there's McCainPalin.com.

The page displays paid political advertising and the statement, "Welcome to McCainPalin.com–the best source for information on the John McCain - Sarah Palin 2008 Republican Presidential Ticket. Stayed (sic) tuned for important announcements."

Despite a report by Washington D.C.'s Roll Call last week that Palin had submitted paperwork to the Republican national office, her press secretary, Bill McAllister, told WND that McCain has given no indication of choosing her as his running mate.

"The governor will play some kind of unspecified role in the convention," McAllister said, "but the only contact with the McCain campaign has been a request for her to participate in a national conference call on energy issues. There has been no outreach or vetting regarding the vice presidency."

Palin has drawn attention as a potential running mate because of appeal to the Republican base. She has personally demonstrated pro-life beliefs and a willingness to tackle tough issues, including an incident in which she took on Republican leadership in her state for ethics violations.

Editor Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard last year called Palin "a politician of eye-popping integrity."

"Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle – especially to transparency and accountability in government – can produce political success," Barnes wrote.
Who then, created the McCainPalin.com website and asked readers to "stay tuned" for an announcement?

Several websites and blogs are promoting Palin for the GOP ticket, including Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President, PalinforVP.com and My McCain Blog, which created the campaign sign pictured above. Palin's press secretary acknowledged to WND that these sites have been in existence for several months and are consolidating their resources to rally Palin supporters.
Supporters and bloggers that WND was able to contact, however, denied any knowledge of who created McCainPalin.com.

Adam Brickley, founder of Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President, told WND he thought it was created by a supporter, but he really didn't know.

"It has been up for a while and used to be a fully functional webpage with newsfeeds, bios, etc. However, the 'stay tuned' message is new," he said. "I really have no idea who runs it."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72717

With Sarah Palin, Barack Obama Shows Rod Blagojevich How Pay-For-Play Is Done!

I'm not quite as shocked to find out that Barack Obama is a crook, as the good Captain was to find gambling in the back room at Rick's!

I wrote this earlier in the year, and posted it on my other blog at Townhall.com, but frankly, this fits right in with the theme of choice, and my ongoing open letters to Republicans in office. This was going on during the 2008 Presidential and the Republican party chose to stand back, and do nothing. John McCain's campaign chose to stand back, and do nothing, as well.

So what happened? The democrats were able to smear the reputation of a great Governor, with nothing but lies. And at least one of them, Senator Kim Elton benefited from pay-for-play with Obama.

And as always, the Republicans proved to be worthless at protecting their own.

Now since I originally posted this story, the Alaskan democrats tried to force one of the "troopergate" co-conspirators, Beth Kerttula, down Governor Palin's throat, as the replacement for Kim Elton. However, Governor Palin said no, and literally asked for resumes from any registered democrats in Juneau, Elton's district, who might be interested in being a Senator!

After much wrangling, Governor Palin was able to convince the democrats that it was in their best interest to accept former Juneau Mayor, Dennis Egan, whose father was Alaska's first Governor, rather than any of the four choices they had put out there, including their first choice, Beth Kerttula.


With Sarah Palin, Barack Obama Shows Rod Blogojevich How Pay-For-Play Is Done:


Long before Americans learned about the sorted tails of, now impeached, Governor Rod Blagojevich, and his attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by now President Barack Obama, there was a much more nefarious plot taking place in our northern most state.

Anyone who was not on another planet during the past election cycle heard the words “troopergate” blasting from their television, or saw the words staring ominously at them from their newspapers. But how many know what the real story was, or how it grew so big?

Well, in the interest of brevity, the simple answer was, Governor Palin fired Walt Monegan, the Public Safety Commissioner of Alaska. Actually fired is not quite correct. She was displeased with his continual insubordination, especially on budget issues, and his penchant to continually try and do end runs around her office. So, she offered him job reassignment. When he refused, she took action.

Now there is a back story to this, as there always is. At the same time this was going on, Governor Palin’s sister, was having trouble with her ex-husband, State Trooper Michael Wooten. This is a troubled fellow, who had a history of violence with his ex-wife, having threatened to kill her, and the Governor’s father, and the Governor herself. He also tazered his son once, and had been caught driving his patrol car drunk. This fellow is not trooper of the month material.

Now, before we go any further in the story, and get to the good parts, let me make sure everyone knows one thing. Trooper Wooten is still Trooper Wooten. He is still on the job!

Now with that said, in Alaska, there are some politicians that never let a good crisis or story angle go to waste. So, after Mr Monegan was fired, the story was cooked up, that Governor Palin fired him because he wouldn’t show Trooper Wooten the door. The same Trooper Wooten who is still employed.

Pretty soon these democrats set the wheels in motion for the Grand Inquisition. A nice show trial for the Alaskan people. All was well with the world.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Senator John McCain, who just happened to be running for President, took a lot of grass roots American’s advice, and chose Governor Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mate. That set the wheels in motion for some serious hijinx.

At this time, let me introduce you to a key player in this story, and the recipient of the pay, for the play, Alaska State Senator, Kim Elton. Elton, along with Senator Hollis French, Stephen Branchflower and Beth Kerttula were the democrats in charge of the show trial.

Some background on Kim Elton, and his ties to the Obama campaign.

Elton is a long-time friend of Pete Rouse, who was Senator Obama’s chief of staff and campaign advisor. (Rouse currently serves in the White House as a Senior Advisor.) Rouse and Elton worked together in Juneau in the late 1970s on the staff of Alaska Republican Lt. Gov. Terry Miller.

According to CNN reports, after Governor Palin was selected for the GOP ticket, the Obama campaign contacted the PSEA Union that represented Trooper Wooten and filed a phony complaint against her.

Although the hearings were set for sometime in 2009, Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter reported in September of 2008 : French, Elton, and Branchflower were hard at work, looking to make this an “October surprise”. Even though the investigation was ongoing, French was already describing it as “damaging,”

Even though this report was far from done, French was calling it a “game changer”. Something that would “perhaps even cause Palin's impeachment as Governor-- a game-changing outcome that would certainly increase the Democrats chances of winning the White House in November.”

The partisanship was so strong by the democrats that Alaska’s Speaker of the House, John Harris requested a special meeting with the Legislative Council, but his request was refused. The witch hunt was on.

At that point five Alaska Legislators, Rep. Wes Keller, Rep. Mike Kelly, Rep. Bob Lynn, Sen. Fred Dyson, and Sen. Tom Wagoner, filed suit in state superior court in Anchorage against French, Elton, Branchflower and the Alaska Legislative Council in order to halt the investigation of Governor Sarah Palin and others because the investigators had lost all appearance of impartiality required under the Alaska Constitution.

Elton, in a local radio interview, went so far as to describe Governor Palin as “criminal”.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Senator Elton donated $2250 to the Obama campaign, but failed to disclose this to the Legislative Council and he continued to preside over the Council with respect to the investigation, refusing to convene meetings of the Council at the request of a majority of the Council’s membership.

It was obvious that Senator Elton was vested in the outcome of the Presidential race and played smear politics with Governor Palin’s reputation in order to help sway the election.

Senator Elton continued to work as hard as possible to destroy Governor Palin, and help his good friend Barack Obama win the presidency by allowing Stephen Branchflower, their handpicked investigator, to write the report before witnesses were even interviewed, misconstrue certain evidence and disregard evidence that was helpful to Governor Palin.

Minutes after the Branchflower Report was publicly released, Elton told the Anchorage Daily News that perhaps people will know how to vote in November. The report was released October 31, 2008 four days before the 2008 Presidential election.

Now we know what the outcome of the 2008 election was. Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. But what became of all of this business in Alaska concerning Governor Palin?

Well after all sorts of histrionics, it turns out, that even the highly partisan, totally biased Branchflower Commission had to say that Governor Palin was well within her rights to fire Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. As with any political appointee, the Public Safety Commissioner serves at the pleasure of the Governor. Which in practice means that Governor Palin could fire him at any time, for any reason whatsoever, or no reason at all.

Now, Branchflower included some wording that admonished the Governor, still clinging on to the smear tactics to the bitter end, but the bottom line, even the democrats had to confess, Palin had done nothing wrong.

Within days of the election, the Juneau Empire, the capitol city’s newspaper, reported that a separate report by the personnel board cleared Governor Palin of any ethics violations, stating: "There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters"

As if to punctuate the point further, Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board, further said this: “Branchflower used a wrong statute as the basis for his conclusions, misconstrued the available evidence and did not consider or obtain all the material evidence to reach a proper finding.”

He went on further to state that his investigation included much more data, including additional e-mails of state personnel, including Palin.

Petumenos concluded that Palin did not seek the trooper's firing after she became Governor. He stated: "Also absent from the evidence reviewed is any assertion that the Governor directed anyone in the Department of Public Safety to terminate Trooper Wooten, or directed anyone on her staff to seek the termination of Trooper Wooten,"

Of course, and again, the best evidence of this is the fact that Trooper Wooten, is still, Trooper Wooten!

Now even though Governor Palin was cleared of all charges, the deed was done. Her reputation, 4 days before the election of a US President, had been tarnished.

And obviously, the newly elected President of the United States, Barack Obama is very pleased with the good work that Kim Elton, Hollis French, Stephen Branchflower, and Beth Kerttula performed.

And for his part, Senator Kim Elton was rewarded by the Obama administration with a plum assignment in the US Interior Department, where he will serve as Director of Alaska Affairs under Secretary Ken Salazar. Obviously, this is of concern, because in his position Elton will be able to interfere with many environmental and energy initiatives that Governor Palin, and the Alaskan people want, as many of these do not fit well with the left wing of the democrat party’s agenda.

The bottom line is this. Barack Obama has clearly paid off Kim Elton for “services rendered”

On the behalf of Mr. Obama, Mr Elton, with his cast of co-conspirators clearly succeeded in interfering with the election of a United States President.

The only question that remains is this:

If the Illinois legislature impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich for ATTEMPTING to wrongly influence who would end up being the person to take President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, what is the punishment for conspiring to destroy a sitting state Governor, and Vice Presidential candidate?

Especially since the eventual winning Presidential candidate has direct ties to the efforts to destroy the Governor, and throw the election in his favor.

Is The Mainstream Media America’s Version Of Suicide Bombers?

So I’m reading the 9,324th story on the absolutely ridiculous “ethics complaint”against Sarah Palin, filed by operatives of the DNC, namely Sondra Tomkins, who is aided by Shannyn Moore, Jeanne Devon, and Linda Biegel.

Standard boilerplate left wing lunacy. This time written by so-called “professor” Amanda Coyne, who runs the Alaska Dispatch, a small internet newser, that’s main purpose seems to be printing attacks against the Governor.

Nothing surprising there, as Coyne has turned her hate into a cottage industry. Between her unbalanced and unhinged hate for Palin, she also spends time attacking Palin’s supporters, and filling the pages of the left wing Huffington Post with her rants.

Thinking about Coyne, made me think of her husband, and his ties with the Anchorage Daily News, which itself has turned into nothing more than a house organ for the Obama administration.

The ADN, as it is known, goes out of it’s way to print smears about the Governor, and any other Republican. They go so far as to help the aforementioned Moore, Devon, and Biegel coordinate well placed comments, from out of state bloggers, posing as angry Alaskans in their comment sections, trying to create a false sense of anger at Palin. The ADN even recycles stories, under new headlines, just to make sure all of the out of state bloggers, and newspaper columnists, get enough space to rant.

Now of course, thinking about the ADN, got me thinking about it’s parent company, McClatchy.

McClatchy is a very left wing outfit, that publishes 30 newspapers all across the country. They have always been a liberal bunch, most big newspapers seem to be. But during the last election cycle McClatchy moved hard to the left, and started shilling for the hard left’s causes. And Barack Obama.

A year or so ago, McClatchy stock was worth a little over $12 a share. Friday the stock closed at 53 cents a share, and Moody’s downgraded their credit rating, calling their $2.2 billion debt, “unsustainable”.

Now of course, McCaltchy is not alone. Many of the nation’s largest newspapers are in deep trouble. And they all have one thing in common. They have all become shills for the left, in a big way.

You know man has sacrificed himself for what he felt was a greater cause since the beginning of time. Even for noble causes. The old greater good.

Now of course, we are more familiar with suicide warriors like the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, and the Germans who became the human guidance systems of missiles at the end of WWII.

Nowadays, we think of Muslim extremists who strap bombs on themselves, and walk into a crowd of civilians, or military, and blow themselves up.

All three of these groups have one thing in common. They were/are in the throws of defeat, and this was/is a last ditch attempt to win.

Now I know some folks will say the reason these newspapers are dead and just too dumb to lay down, is because of the economy, or (gasp) the internet.

Now that would be a good argument, except for some stubborn facts. One, there are plenty of good newspapers across the country, newspapers that print straight news, you know: Facts. These papers are still making money. And, they have been able to keep advertisers, as well as create an online presence.

But this problem isn’t just with newspapers.

One of the well know bottomless money pits in left wing broadcasting is Air America. 10's of millions of dollars have been flushed down that toilet. And it is a complete failure. It’s basically NPR, except funded by rich liberals. On second thought, it is exactly like NPR!

But AM talk radio isn’t a dying breed, internet, or not. In fact, there are many talk show hosts that do quite well, and have used their talk shows to move into TV gigs, book writing, and so on.

Any radio station that carries Rush, Hannity, Levin, Beck, or Ingraham, pretty much has it made.

So, as we see, even in a poor economy, it’s possible for radio to make money.

Well, then what about TV?

Now we have come to realize that NBC and MSNBC have an agenda. The Chairman of their parent company, Jeffrey Immelt, is a member of Barack Obama’s advisory group, and General Electric, the parent company, stands to make billions of dollars if they can get Obama and Congress to push through all sorts of, so called, green legislation. GE makes a lot of the implements of the green movement. Machines that, unless mandated, have limited value or desirability.

So one can understand why NBC and MSNBC are now part of White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibb’s, staff.

Immelt appears to have instigated a plan to take the once respectable NBC, and it’s sister networks and turn them into propaganda tools of the left. And for his trouble, he has all but destroyed the value of General Electric with it’s stock down 62 percent since last year.

But again, at least one can see an end game. It’s not very ethical, of course, and has the ability to destroy democracy, but at least we know about it, and can understand that it’s just good old fashioned greed, thrown in with the almost cartoonish left wing loonacy from the anchors and guests on the two main networks!

Never mind the week long assault of “green” on all of the NBC/Universal networks pushing the global warming hoax.

But what is CBS and ABC’s excuse? Both networks are losing viewers, with CBS being in last place for a long time. And yet, with few exceptions, these networks tow the democrat party line. Much of the time skewing hard left.

And how about CNN? CNN started the 24 hour news craze. They were the only game in town for some time. Now they always tilted to the left, but since Barack Obama became the nominee, and now the President, they took a hard left turn.

And how have they been rewarded? They are now number 4 out of 4 major cable news networks. Their own sister network, Headline News, which basically has headlines running on a loop all day, beats them!

During the recent coverage of the April 15th tea party protests, both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central, who do fake news and satire, had more viewers than any of the prime time CNN shows!

But cable news isn’t bad business. Fox News, which at least attempts to play it straight, and clearly tells you the difference between their hard news offerings, and their night time opinion shows, has more viewers than the other three networks, combined.

Now even a simple minded guy like me can look at the facts and figure out that the paying customer isn’t all that excited about a steady diet of left wing rants, like one finds on the various radio station or TV channels, or reads in the newspapers mentioned above.

In fact, it’s pretty easy to understand why all of these media outlets are either going broke, or causing a significant financial drain on their parent companies.

The question is why?

Why are these media outlets doing this?

Now, during WWII, the Japanese and Germans were desperate. They had almost no hope in winning a conventional war. So many brave men were persuaded to sacrifice themselves for the cause.

We see the same thing today, with the Muslim extremists. They have very little in real technology, and weaponry. They honestly have no hope of ever winning a conflict against any well trained army, and yet, out of desperation, they use their own lives, sacrificing them to inflict death and terror upon the world. Hoping to win some kind of victory.

Now I ask, isn’t the left wing media, the so called mainstream media, doing basically the same thing? I mean they have sacrificed profits, the lifeblood of any business.

The investors, some willingly, and some not, have sacrificed their personal wealth to keep these left wing outlets going.

Years after it made a lick of sense.

So, could it be that the left is really that desperate?

I mean they all are crowing like they won some big victory in November. But did they?

With protests in the streets, and Barack Obama’s falling poll numbers, it’s obvious that whatever they did in November, the gains are quickly being lost.

Now this left turn didn’t happen yesterday, but the media has went all in since November.

So you tell me, is this continual abandonment of all sane business practices, in order to spread left wing propaganda and lies, the last attempt of desperate liberals?

A sacrifice for the cause?

Or just plain insanity!

Sarah Palin: "Fire and Nice"

This is third in a series of articles following Sarah Palin's meteoric rise from governor to vice presidential candidate and onto the national stage.

June 04, 2008

McCain Should Pick Sarah Palin for VP

By Jack Kelly
Real Clear Politics

Who? When?

Republicans including, I imagine, Sen. McCain himself are asking these questions about his selection of a vice presidential candidate.

Ideally, a presidential candidate wants a running mate who will help him or her win the election, and (maybe) to govern afterwards. But most will settle for a veep who isn’t a drag on the ticket, as Dan Quayle was for the first President Bush.

Traditionally, a presidential nominee has chosen a running mate to balance the ticket geographically, or to appease a faction of the party. The most successful example of this was when John F. Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson, though neither liked the other, and LBJ joined the ticket only because he thought Kennedy would lose.

Bill Clinton broke with this tradition when he chose another young (purported) moderate from a neighboring southern state. By picking Al Gore, he hoped to reinforce his campaign theme of generational change.

Which way will Sen. McCain go? The potential running mates most often discussed have downsides nearly as great as their upsides. Gov. Tim Pawlenty helps only in Minnesota, and not enough, according to current polls, to make a difference there. Sen. McCain’s friend Sen. Joe Lieberman would bring in some moderate Democrats, but could further antagonize conservatives already suspicious of Sen. McCain. Gov. Romney would have little appeal to working class whites unhappy with Sen. Obama, and evangelicals fret about that Mormon thing. A Huckabee nomination would irritate economic and foreign policy conservatives as much as it would please evangelicals.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a rising star. But he’s only 36, and he’s been governor for less than a year.There is one potential running mate who has virtually no down side. Those conservatives who’ve heard of her were delighted to learn that McCain advance man Arthur Culvahouse was in Alaska recently, because they surmised he could only be there to discuss the vice presidential nomination with Gov. Sarah Palin.

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is both the youngest and the first female governor in Alaska’s relatively brief history as a state. She’s also the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating that has bounced around 90 percent.

This is due partly to her personal qualities. When she was leading her underdog Wasilla high school basketball team to the state championship in 1982, her teammates called her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her fierce competitiveness.

Two years later, when she won the “Miss Wasilla” beauty pageant, she was also voted “Miss Congeniality” by the other contestants.

Sarah Barracuda. Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice. A happily married mother of five who is still drop dead gorgeous. And smart to boot.

But it’s mostly because she’s been a crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party.

Ms. Palin touches other conservative bases, some of which Sen. McCain has been accused of rounding. Track, her eldest son, enlisted in the Army last Sept. 11. She’s a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she’s staunchly pro-life.

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal said Sen. McCain should run against a corrupt, do-nothing Congress, a la Harry Truman. If he should choose to do so, Gov. Palin would make an excellent partner “The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who have crossed Sarah,” pollster Dave Dittman told the Weekly Standard’s Fred Barnes.

Sen. Barack Obama’s support has plunged recently among white women. Many Hillary Clinton supporters accuse him — I think unfairly — of being sexist. Having Sarah Palin on the ticket could help Sen. McCain appeal to these disgruntled Democrats.

Running mates usually aren’t named until the convention. But if Sen. McCain should name Gov. Palin earlier, it would give America more time to get to know this extraordinary woman. And because she’s at least a dozen feature stories waiting to be written, she could help him dominate the news between now and the conventions.

Another reason for selecting Sarah Palin early would be to force Barack Obama to make a mistake. He’d have to rule out choosing someone like Virginia Sen. Jim Webb as his running mate, for fear of exacerbating charges of sexism. And if he chose a woman other than Hillary, the impression Democrats are wimpy would be intensified.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/06/the_vp_case_for_gov_sarah_pali.html

Palin Backs Miss Calif., Blasts 'Liberal Onslaught'

Sarah Palin came to the defense of Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who like Palin, was the target of a liberal onslaught because she stood up for her beliefs in a public forum. Both women are representative of the attacks the radical left are making against those who express views and opinions different from their own. Both are women of faith who believe in walking the walk in spite of the consequences. Here is a FOX news report on the story:

Palin Backs Miss Calif., Blasts ‘Liberal Onslaught’

In a strongly worded statement relased late Wednesday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defended Miss California Carrie Prejean and ripped into “the liberal onslaught of malicious attacks” against Prejean for her response to a question about gay marriage.

“I can relate as a liberal target myself,” Palin said. “What I find so remarkable is that these politically-motivated attacks fail to show that what Carrie and I believe is also what President Obama and Secretary Clinton believe — marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Prejean created a stir with her response to a question about gay marriage at last month’s Miss USA pageant, questions about her work with gay marriage opponents and nearly nude photos taken of her when she was a teenager put her title in jeopardy.

PHOTOS: Click to view photos of Carrie Prejean.

“I applaud Donald Trump for standing with Carrie during this time. And I respect Carrie for standing strong and staying true to herself, and for not letting those who disagree with her deny her protection under the nation’s First Amendment Rights,” the former vice presidential candidate said.

“Our Constitution protects us all — not just those who agree with the far left,” Palin said.

On Wednesday, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler resigned as co-executive director of the Miss California USA pageant, saying she no longer believes in the organization because of pageant owner Donald Trump’s decision to let the state’s controversial title holder keep her crown.

RELATED: Click here for all of FOX’s coverage of Carrie Prejean.

At a news conference, Moakler angrily accused Prejean of violating the contract she signed with pageant organizers, but Trump announced Tuesday that Prejean would keep her title.

Moakler, the Miss USA of 1995, said she decided after Trump’s news conference to quit.

“I cannot with a clear conscience move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth,” she said in a statement issued by her publicist. “I want to be a role model for young women with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children.”

Trump’s senior executive assistant, Rhona Graff-Ricci, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prejean, the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, created a brouhaha when she responded to a question by celebrity judge Perez Hilton by saying, “I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

After gay rights advocates took her to task, California pageant officials said Prejean asked for permission to elaborate on her answer and they agreed. But then, they said, she began speaking without their permission in front of crowds opposed to gay marriage, including her San Diego church and the National Organization for Marriage.

Keith Lewis, the state pageant’s co-executive director, said Prejean also began missing Miss California events she was contractually obligated to attend.

Trump on Tuesday said there had been miscommunication among Prejean, pageant organizers and the outside groups, but added that “the communication problem, I believe, is totally solved.”

Trump defended Prejean’s statements that marriage should be exclusive to men and women, saying her position was similar to President Barack Obama’s.

Photos of Prejean in her underwear, taken when she was 17, emerged after the Miss USA pageant.

Moakler said Monday that pageant officials were not as unhappy with what the photos of Prejean showed as they were with the fact she didn’t disclose their existence, as the contract she signed required.

Trump, however, while acknowledging the photos were “risque,” said he didn’t think they were bad enough to get her booted.

Lewis said Wednesday he was saddened by Moakler’s resignation but “would always respect the convictions that brought her to this place.”

Prejean spokeswoman Melany Ethridge said Prejean, who turned 22 on Wednesday, was traveling and hadn’t had a chance to speak with pageant officials since Moakler’s resignation.

Moakler, an actress and model, posed nude for Playboy magazine but not until several years after she was Miss USA. The December 2001 Playmate of the Month said in her Playboy bio that her turnoffs include, “People who lie, cheat and are dishonest.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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