Republicans for the most part avoided eating their own this election except in Alaska, where tea-party diva Sarah Palin helped the independent-Democratic ticket topple GOP Gov. Sean Parnell out of political spite.
The governor’s race in the Last Frontier State was a sleepy affair until September, when independent Bill Walker, who lost to Mr. Parnell in the 2010 GOP primary, merged campaigns with the Democratic nominee, Byron Mallott, a former mayor of Juneau. The unlikely duo, which share little in common politically besides rank opportunism, ran on a populist platform.
Two weeks before the election, Ms. Palin formally endorsed the Walker-Mallott “Unity Ticket” on the pretext of encouraging political comity in Juneau. “This strong independent ticket represents an Alaskan-sized heart, putting people over party machine politics and Alaskans over egos,” she declared.
Ms. Palin is not overwhelmingly popular in her home state—a Public Policy Polling survey in August showed that just 36% of voters statewide view her favorably—but she does carry clout among anti-establishment conservatives. Given that the election appears to have been decided by fewer than 5,000 votes, and that Republican Dan Sullivan topped incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich by nearly 8,000, Ms. Palin may very well be able to claim Mr. Parnell’s scalp.
