Louisiana long-shot Senate candidate Rob Maness can use all the help he can get. This weekend he will get some.
Sarah Palin, John McCain’s 2008 running mate and the former governor of Alaska, will make the trek to Crown Point, La., on Saturday to stump for Maness. He is a retired Air Force colonel, and his prospects are less than rosy. A Fox News poll conducted Sept. 14-Sept. 16 gave him 7 percent of the vote. But Red State editor Erick Erickson endorsed him Friday, and his campaign hopes to see a Palin bump in the polls.
Palin used to be an influential power-broker in Republican primary politics, but her clout has faded. Maness isn’t the first candidate she has traveled to rally for, and with a few exceptions, her chosen candidates have faced bruising defeat.
In April, the former vice presidential contender went to Tulsa, Okla., to headline a rally alongside Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee for primary candidate T. W. Shannon.
“He is the thunder that needs to storm through Washington, D.C., to clean some things out, and clean it up and turn some things around,” Palin said, per News On 6.
Oklahoma voters disagreed. Despite endorsements from Palin, Erickson and the Senate Conservatives Fund, Shannon lost the primary by a wider-than-expected margin to Rep. James Lankford.
Palin also went to Union City, Ga., to support Karen Handel, the former secretary of state running in the Georgia Republican Senate primary. Palin spoke to the South Fulton Republican Women group and helmed a Handel fundraiser. The former governor also starred in a TV spot for Handel, who ended up third in the Republican primary, narrowly missing a chance to compete in the run-off.
New Jersey might not seem like the state where one would expect Palin’s popularity to shine, but she traveled there anyway to stump for Steve Lonegan in October 2013 when he was running for Senate. He lost the general election to Cory Booker and in June lost the Republican primary for an open House seat — another bid that Palin endorsed.
That’s not to say a Palin appearance is an augur of doom. The former vice presidential candidate stumped for Joni Ernst during her bid for the Iowa Republican Senate nomination, and Ernst emerged from that contest victorious. And recent polling suggests that the race is a dead heat. Ernst is up by 0.2 percentage points in Real Clear Politics’ polling average.
On Sept. 25, Palin campaigned in Kansas for embattled incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, who faced a brutal primary challenge and emerged from that contest significantly weakened. The late rise of independent challenger Greg Orman has made his re-election prospects more fragile than ever.
The jury is still out on the impact of a Palin appearance. Though her latest pick — Maness, who isn’t seen as competitive by any standard — probably won’t snag a win, Palin has no dearth of opportunities to show she can draw a crowd.
