The woman the left fears most emerges as an electoral powerhouse. Candidates backed by Sarah Palin visibly were powered victory, or in one case, near-victory. Andy Barr of Poltico writes:Palin had four primary endorsements in play - Carly Fiorina, Nikki Haley, Terry Branstad and Cecile Bledsoe - and three won or moved on to a runoff.
Palin served different roles for each candidate - sometimes spotlighting conservatives not well known to the national scene while at others validating conservative credentials to an unsure grassroots and even stepping in to deflect nasty attacks.
Nikki Haley is the most dramatic beneficiary, having been propelled to a strong first place showing in a multi-candidate field, though just shy of 50% of the vote. She is all but certain to win a runoff election in 2 weeks. Palin's backing pulled her into the lead and bucked her up in the face of attacks on her wifely virtue, attacks she adamantly denied. A handsome woman, like Sarah Palin herself, Haley can expect the same sort of vicious anti-woman attacks the former Alaska Governor has endured. Evidently, like her northern counterpart, Haley will emerge stronger and her opponents will be self-discredited.
The sole candidate endorsed by Palin who did not win was Cecile Bledsoe, who ran for the Republication nomination for a Congressional seat.
Palin labeled Bledsoe one of the "mama grizzlies" the former governor contends are leading a new feminist movement, and the Arkansas state senator turned a distant second place showing a month ago into what looked like a narrow defeat at the hands of Rogers Mayor Steve Womack.
Meanwhile, Big Labor, which poured $10 million into Arkansas to punish Blanche Lincoln for not supporting card check legislation, was skunked. This has to be a huge blow to the power of unions to intimidate Democrats into supporting their initiatives. It hs also driven a wedge between the Obama White House and its principal allies, especially SEIU and MoveOn, both of which lavishly spent to defeat Lincoln and teach a lesson to the other Democrats, A White House official complained to Politico's Ben Smith that "Organized labor just flushed $10 million down the toilet"
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