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Sure, Begich has gotten under her skin. But if Palin could sound less aggrieved and court his voters, maybe she could win enough second votes to put her in Congress.
She’s taken the opposite path. She’s in essence telling his supporters they’re just tools of the Republican establishment. She’s making them choose – Team Nick or Team Sarah.
Ranked choice voting would allow voters to wear both jerseys, to Palin’s benefit. It’s her best possible route to becoming Congresswoman Sarah Palin and joining the House Freedom Caucus.
Yet she is running full-bore against the new voting style, too. She calls it a “train wreck” and a “cockamamie system.”
“I was telling people all along – don't comply,” she said last Wednesday, the day she learned she’d lost an election she would have won if more of Begich’s voters had chosen her as their second.
There’s likely more than wounded pride and indignation driving her seemingly unstrategic reaction.
Palin has a significant base and they are loyal. Almost a third of special general voters chose her as their No. 1. She became a right-wing hero by making common cause with “liberty-loving Joe six-packs,” as she put it. She tells them their way of life is under attack by liberals and their supposed allies in the GOP establishment and “the media.”
She is doubling down on what has worked for her, and tapping into her supporters’ Trump-induced skepticism of elections results. She doesn’t have Frank Murkowski or Barack Obama to kick around anymore. Nick Begich is now her foil.
As I said, Begich’s commitment to going negative makes sense, but only to a degree. Can he really eat into Palin’s loyal base, or do his attacks draw her supporters closer to her? The details of his life, his background and his business are still not well known in the state. Maybe he would have gotten further if he’d better defined himself and his accomplishments to Alaska voters. His decision to attack Palin makes more sense than hers to return fire, but there’s also a cost to it. And everyone doing that cost-benefit analysis for him is working in unfamiliar terrain because we’ve never had an election like this before.
Meanwhile, there’s Mary Peltola, who hardly draws even a glancing blow as she heads off to the U.S. Capitol for her swearing in next week. Palin barely mentioned her at her lakeside press conference. Her barbs at Democrats were aimed at Begich for not dropping out which she says will empower Democrats. That’s pretty indirect.
Maybe Palin sees no strategic upside to attacking Peltola, but I think that’s a decision made for personal reasons. They get along. Peltola says only nice things about Palin. Maybe the gloves come off later. Or maybe national Republicans will fund independent ads to make Peltola look bad.
So far, though, Peltola’s strategy of making nice is paying political dividends.
Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome your feedback, questions and news tips.
- Liz Ruskin
lruskin@alaskapublic.org
Follow me on twitter: @lruskin
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