Palin gets some endorsement push-back

DES MOINES – Sarah Palin's endorsement of ex-Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad had some Iowans wondering Friday if the former Alaska governor is going wrong rather than rogue.

“Sarah Palin has demonstrated that she's either not running for president and, therefore, doesn't care about her political future, or that she lacks any understanding of the Iowans who would have made up her base of support,” said Eric Woolson, campaign manager for Branstad's chief rival in next Tuesday's primary election, Sioux City business consultant Bob Vander Plaats.

The response on Palin's Face book page to Thursday's Branstad endorsement was relatively mixed, although a number of people claiming to be Iowans, conservatives or affiliated with the Tea Party movement expressed disappointment, betrayal and outrage that she was siding with the GOP establishment over Vander Plaats. One caller to a Des Moines radio talk show called Palin's Branstad endorsement “political suicide,” while another worried she was being “co-opted” by the GOP political mainstream.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was caught by surprise with Palin's decision to involve herself in a hotly contested primary in the nation's leadoff state in the presidential selection process, but he noted she has endorsed a lot of candidates in congressional races around the country.

“Does that mean she's going to run for president in Iowa? I don't know whether she even knows at this point,” Grassley said. If she decided to run, he said it would be difficult to make a judgment 18 months ahead of time how a Branstad endorsement might factor into her political fortunes in Iowa.

Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said there would be a benefit to Palin if she gets into the 2012 GOP presidential race and Branstad is successful in winning next Tuesday's primary nomination and defeating Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in November because the “he would owe her even just for the endorsement.”

Tim Hagle, a University of Iowa political science professor who follows Republican politics, said that would be “a pretty long-shot strategy,” but he did not see a problem with a Branstad endorsement because he espouses many of the tenets of lower taxes, less government and protecting individual freedoms that mesh with Palin, Tea Party activists and conservative Republicans.

“It's not like we're talking about night and day between Branstad and Vander Plaats,” Hagle said.

“The fact that Palin is going to pick him doesn't necessarily mean that she has abandoned in any way her willingness to be a rogue and to fight the party when it's necessary,” he added. “Whether you're going rogue or being a maverick doesn't mean you do that all the time.”

Goldford said the Branstad endorsement does not necessarily signal a presidential run but it helps keep her 2012 options open.

“I think she likes playing kingmaker,” he said. “It keeps her on as a player.”

Iowa Democratic Party Michael Kiernan said he expected Palin's support would do as much for Terry Branstad as it did for 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator who picked Palin as his running mate before losing to Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

“When the going gets tough, here's what she did, she decided to quit in her role as governor of Alaska to go make money,” Kiernan said during Friday's taping of Iowa Public Television's “Iowa Press” show.

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