2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and darling of the far-right Sarah Palin threw her support behind GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina today.
In a Facebook note titled "Let's shake it up California!", Palin praises Fiorina as a "Commonsense Conservative" who can translate her experience as a business executive to fiscally conservative governing.
"We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America's economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career," the note reads.
Fiorina's campaign has been rolling out conservative endorsements this week as she fights a heated three-way battle to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall. Two conservative groups that oppose abortion announced support of her campaign earlier this week, citing Fiorina's electability.
Palin echoes that tune, calling Fiorina "the conservative who has the potential to beat California's liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November."
The former Alaska governor also takes a veiled swipe at one of Fiorina's Republican rivals, Tom Campbell, by saying Fiorina is running against "a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer."
But she fails to mention the third candidate in the primary, Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. DeVore, who says he is the only non- "Republican In Name Only" running in the primary, is widely considered the favorite among the Tea Party supporters who make up much of Palin's base.
A slew of DeVore supporters commenting on the post took note:
"Oh No Sarah Say it isn't so!" reads one of the hundreds of comments on the post. "Someone send her Chuck DeVore's website! She needs to be informed!!"
While Palin's endorsement of Fiorina could help the former Hewlett-Packard executive in the GOP primary, it could also give Democrats some ammunition against her in the general election if she wins the nomination.
Colleague Rob Hotakainen has more on the U.S. Senate race in today's Bee. Read it here.
UPDATE 2:40 p.m.: While the Fiorina camp framed the endorsement as a "sign of the groundswell of conservative support building behind her campaign" Campbell's campaign said it was nothing but an "IOU from the 2008 election cycle," when Fiorina campaigned for Palin's running mate, GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
DeVore's campaign echoed that attack and questioned the Fiorina camp's assertion that the endorsement reflects growing support among conservatives.
"Despite running as a self-proclaimed conservative, her approach to conservatism is that of an old-style anthropologist in a strange land: she joins the alien culture, and seeks to identify with it by appropriating its totems," spokesman Joshua Trevi;ño wrote in an e-mail.
Fiorina's campaign, meanwhile, took issue with the reports (including ours) pointing to DeVore's support among the Tea Party crowd, citing the results of a March Field Poll that showed Fiorina leading among GOP voters who said they identified with the Tea Party.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Palin flashes a thumbs up towards her husband, Todd, as she begins to address a crowd during a stop of the Tea Party Express on Boston Common in Boston on April 14. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
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