Downing: Palin sets up a victim narrative for her national ‘blatantly go rogue’ relaunch

By
Suzanne Downing
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114

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska, spun the election this week in a long diatribe, a series of social media posts, and a video. All of it says that she won the congressional race and is going to Washington to meet with the Freedom Caucus. She was on a plane today, heading out of state on her way to D.C.

On social media, she said the election has been “#rigged.” She began setting up the narrative that Dominion voting machines stole the election from her and somehow it was Nick Begich’s fault.

She circled for readers how she has 4 million followers on Instagram and Nick has 14,000. She did not compare herself to the apparent winner, Mary Peltola, who has 13,500 Instagram followers. Instead, she compared herself to the third-place finisher. In her mind, Instagram followers equal voters.

Some 73% of Alaska voters did not pick Palin, the most famous Alaskan in history, in the first round of voting. The vast majority of voters did not vote for her in the primary, nor in the special general election back in August.

Instead, of the 214,659 counted so far in the Nov. 8 general election, 101,441 Alaskans chose a Democrat. Mary Peltola has over 47.5% of the vote.

Another 24% of voters chose a different Republican than Palin. They picked Nick. And less than 2% chose a Libertarian, Chris Bye.

Palin is evidently counting on Peltola, the victorious Democrat, to bring Palin second-round votes. She courted those votes throughout the past four months by cozying up to Peltola and telling people that everything was just wonderful about her dear friend Peltola, except that she was with the wrong party.

Here is the problem for Palin’s theory: As the leader in votes, Peltola voters’ second-round votes will never be counted.

Palin doesn’t seem to understand ranked choice voting. The only second-round votes that will get counted are from Bye, who has 3,716 first choice votes (1.73%), and Nick Begich III, who has 51,927 votes, (24.19%). If every single second vote went Palin, she could win. That never happens.

So what else is Palin really doing with this unlikely argument that she is the victor?

She’s launching her victim narrative for the national stage. The audience in this bizarre quest to become the face of the vote victim is not local Alaskans. It’s her audience at the NewsMax platform, where she is appearing more frequently as a talking news analyst.

She will tell the world, without proof, that the election was stolen from her.

In her social media rant, she blamed Dominion voting machines, the Republican Party (although on Sunday she had spoken on the stage at the party’s rally), Lisa Murkowski, Nick Begich, and politicos. She blamed everyone but the impressive candidate and campaign of Mary Peltola and herself.

Palin also said she is hiring Jerry Ward as her chief of staff, and she gave out his email address for everyone to direct their questions to him, because she was expecting to be very busy with the Freedom Caucus this week.

This seems unhinged, but she will never accept a loss. That would be bad for her brand. The claim of victory sets the table for the media feast that she’ll preside over, along with other Trump-backed candidates who lost.

Even Kelly Tshibaka, who still holds the lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has not declared victory. With her 44% result to Murkowski’s 42%, the math is just too difficult for Tshibaka. It will take a miracle.

Sen. Murkowski has also not declared victory, in spite of the fact that the Democrat votes from Pat Chesbro will come over in Round 3 and pull her to the 50+1% she needs to win.

And Rep. Mary Peltola, clearly in the catbird’s seat in this election with all the Outside money and the ranked choice voting advantage, is also not claiming victory.

Only Sarah Palin is claiming victory.

“We anticipate victory, despite not having election results tonight due to our assumed election integrity,” Palin said, throwing in a touch of sarcasm and giving a clue to what her next chapter will be. “The GOP establishment deserves losses until it’s willing to FIGHT for what is right.”

If the GOP establishment deserves losses, does that also apply to Palin?

The grassroots Republicans of the state may take offense to Palin’s slamming of them. They’ve worked hard.

In 2020, many Alaskans fought hard against the ranked choice voting Alaska was being sold by dark money from Outside. It won by a small margin, and many Alaskans will start fighting to undo this system that is patently unfair. We can at least appreciate that Palin sees the problem, but she has made it about her, which could make Ballot Measure 2, with its open primary and ranked choice voting, difficult to repeal. Palin cannot be the leader to repeal the ballot measure, because she is now just too unhinged.

Many Alaskans have also been fighting with all they have to keep the Republican governor from being recalled by the Democrats, and to get this conservative governor reelected.

Many Alaskans worked as volunteers for candidates day after day to keep the state from going off the rails. Alaskans showed up at precinct meetings and community councils. Palin was nowhere to be found in the state until Don Young died.

Palin also said she is going to go even more “blatantly rogue.” Whatever that means, we can hope she takes it elsewhere and goes rogue on some other population.

As a conservative, I am disappointed that Alaska has been added to the column for the Democrats. Today, every county and borough that touches the Pacific Ocean has gone Democrat in the U.S. House, now that Mary Peltola is the likely victor.

That’s not what Congressman Don Young would have wanted, no matter what the D.C. Mafia told Alaskans. He was proud to be one of the last two conservative congressional representatives on the Left Coast. He also wanted to stay in office to see Nancy Pelosi ushered out of the Speaker’s Chambers.

This congressional race has a bleak outcome for our state’s economy. It is discouraging to see how many soft conservatives and swing voters who voted for Peltola simply because she is nice and simply because they wanted to be a part of history.

Palin encouraged that vote for Mary Peltola every step of the way. As much as anyone, she owns this.

Suzanne Downing is publisher of Must Read Alaska.

Strange: Palin presumes victory, hires Ward as acting chief of staff

114 COMMENTS

  1. This is indefensible behavior from someone seeking elected office.

    Palin is bad for conservatives. By putting her in front of the camera she steadily undermines the conservative movement. Best ally Democrats could possibly imagine.

    • The indefensible behavior comes from the Demoncrats and their partners in crime-The Establishment Alaska GOP! They subvert the will of the people while their shills in the media cover their tracks with bs narratives.
      The tell is how they both work so hard to eliminate the candidates and legislators that try to represent their constituency.
      Rank Choice Voting is just another scheme to keep the game going.
      The true will of the people is supposed to be the result of elections. It isn’t happening with all the manipulations that our cronies in Juneau (and Washington) are inflicting on us with the establishment journalists doing their bidding.

      • Ak 907,
        ( I really detest that Zip Code moniker, do you reside in Wasilla?), Question for you, if the Republicans are merely “partners in Crime” with the Democrats, pray tell, why has Sarah ran as a Republican and yet joined with the Democrats to help bring the Democrat crime spree down upon all Alaskans? Mary Peltola is but the latest rendition.
        You vote for Sarah?

  2. Todd Palin watches from a distance, sighs and then smiles when he thinks about their breakup. No more drama. Sarah truly is body by Fischer, brains by Mattel.

  3. Poor Nickers.

    They have wasted months and spilled barrels of ink, trying to fool the Alaskan rightwing into backing a slick-haired business-class moderate packaged as a ‘conservative’. Not going to happen. We’ve been there, done that with Murkowski – and we have been trying to undo that damage for 12 years.

    In fact – I strongly suspect that even if the Republicans manage to edge out a 51 seat majority in the Senate, Lisa will embrace her star moment to finally join with the Democrats (likely as an ‘independent’ in favor of federally mandated abortions in red states), and throw control of federal judicial nominations back to Chuckie Schumer.

    A second knife in the back from the Nickers is inevitable. I fully expect they happily jumped on board with Team Peltola – just as they did during the Special Election.

    But make no mistake, that knife was coming either way, either now at the ballot box, or in the form of selling us out in Washington DC few weeks or months from now.

    Its good to know that the right wing Alaskans are awake and vigilant. They can still identify a snake, even if its cloaked in Carhartts and slick media fluff pieces.

      • Sure, glad to help.
        What words are you struggling with JMARK? I’m only a local ASD graduate, but I did plenty of math tutoring back in the day. Repetition is the key, especially for the slow ones.

    • Apu Apustaja
      I wonder if being a real “conservative” includes Chasing off the Oil industry, backing the fellow who stole your PFD and Trashing Uncle Ted which led to the Real Mark Begich becoming Alaska’s U.S. Senator.
      You Palin lovers do some amazing Logical Gymnastics at times!

      • I draw a distinction between small government ‘conservative’ and ‘right wing’.
        Nick was badly marketed as a ‘conservative’ but is actually spineless moderate.
        Palin, I perceive to be more aggressively right wing.

        After watching the Biden Administration and allied corporate interests spend an entire year wielding vaccine mandates as a weapon against private citizens, I’m less interested in small government types. Palin refused the COVID Vaccination, unlike the other domesticated sheep running for the office.

        I support Palin because I believe she is far more willing to use federal government as a weapon against the citizens and businesses that support Democrat interests. Starting with the career public health officials that pushed for and enforced these mandates.

        • Apu,
          Sorry my Friend , the only wing Sarah belongs to is the one that suits Sarah best, which may be the part of the Hospital generally known as the mental health wing. She is not a Constitutional Conservative , Sarah is an appetite, seeking fame and fortune where it is to be found.
          And so you know, I refused the Jab just like you and apparently even Sarah.
          Good day to you Sir, God Bless and live Free.

  4. An optimistic note that has nothing to do with anybody’s elections perspective…

    As I understand it, after Jan 1 voting in the Mat-Su Borough will be paper ballot only. That means the fairest, most representative voting possible; Voting irregularities will be minimal as the votes will be made by Alaskans, counted by Alaskans and checked by Alaskans without someone’s software getting in the way.

    For absolutely clean elections, my hope is for a referendum to repeal the Ranked Voting law. I would bet that when and if that referendum takes place the Ranked Voting law will be soundly defeated. Thereby, instead of a casino-like voting mentality the public will again vote for the Individual each voter thinks will serve their constituency in the best way.

    • Burnt, it would be great to censure her if only the Republican party was relevant any more. Their censure of Lisa Murkowski seems about as meaningful as the price of tea in Iceland.

      • Wayne Douglas Coogan
        And what might the price of Tea in the Emerald Isle be at present? I mean with the tax and all?

  6. So once again, Begich comes in third place, and plays the spoiler.

    Will Begich do it again in two years to ensure a Democrat victory?

    • Palin was the spoiler, she jumped in late looking to expand her grift. All she did was split the “R” vote. If she wasn’t in the race, then Begich would have walked away with it. She turns off rational Republicans, and Independents who actively voted against her. Her refusal to push the “Rank the Red” to her supporters will cost us this seat.

    • Lets try and focus here. Begich was in the race long before Palin. Palin had to relocate to Alaska so she could run against Begich. Palin only came because she thought she could feed off the corpse of Young. For her, she was chasing an opportunity to try and become relevant again. She was the spoiler her, not the Alaskan.

      • Exactly. In fact, Begich was one of the only people who had the courage to challenge Don Young himself when the congressman was still alive and running. Everyone else, including both Palin and Peltola only jumped in when they realized they wouldn’t have to challenge Young.

        • Don Young wasn’t a bit happy about Nick taking that plunge either and he spoke up about it, likely taking many of Nick’s votes away. Clearly Young was the spoiler for Nick.

          • Here is Don Young on Nick Begich running against him: “I hired that young man to show him the ropes, run for the job, don’t run against me…it’s not loyalty, nor is it honest…That’s a person I don’t want to serve me in Congress,”
            That enough for you Rich? Heheh!

    • The spoiler is
      palin. Nicholas had his campaign running since fall/winter 2021,her voters would had voted for him or played the race card and voted peltola if palin stayed out. When did palin enter? March 2022.
      But no use gripping at who foiled who. Race is done and peltola probably will be the congresswoman from alaska while she house shops in d.c neighborhoods. But i don’t think we haven’t seen the last of Nicholas The iii. He may need to do something about his last name that doesn’t identify him as a
      begich and seek public offices he can easily win and easily serve a community he knows and protect its valus. He doesn’t have to serve in the same role grandpa did. But in 2 years the political scene may change and peltola and palin voters may be more warmer and regretful not voting for nicholas iii first time. People are fickle.

      • There must be a reason why Elvi is simply identified as Elvi. Elvi looks fashionably chic to match a fashionable lady as she carries herself than elvi jackson. And Elvi is how she simply wants to be addressed.

  7. Damn it, this is sad. The first round numbers painted a pretty clear picture, if the primary itself didn’t make it clear enough months ago, but reading this article makes it all the more dreary. Feeling very upset with Palin today, and honestly pretty upset with the people who voted for her, and again, Trump for not being able to see past national celebrity and endorsing her. People who voted for her, including some of my own family members, did so knowing she wasn’t the party candidate, knowing she was splitting the vote, knowing she wasn’t tied to Alaska anymore, so much that she was surprised to first learn about RCV when she filed. Peter Thiel was on the Uncommon Knowledge podcast this week and called the two parties the party of evil (D) and the party of stupid (R). Feeling like I’m in the party of stupid today — still better than the party of evil, but that’s cold comfort for the results.

  8. Ranked choice voting has no favorite political party but does need a well thought out strategy to produce a winner for a particular party. In case of U.S. House, NB111 won over party leaders and started his campagne over a year in advance, then the honorable Don Young dies and Sarah Palin swan dives right into the middle of it all with no education of current issues. She entertained her followers with flash and dazzle one liners like ”Don’t retreat, reload”.
    However, the most effective political player of the election was Al Gross stepping aside for Mary Peltola who won the hearts of many Alaskans, a nice lady with a big smile 😉

  9. 1-Just go away, Sarah.

    2-According to Porcaro, RVC is wonderful. It works perfectly if we vote how he tells us to.

    It’s always funny to me how quiet Porcaro gets when guests talk about how bad RVC is for Alaska. Doesn’t own it in face of critics.

  11. A Girl’s Gotta Do, What A Girl’s Gotta Do. I guess she decided to retire the word QUITTER. She knows the Freedom Caucus Guys. She successfully campaigned for all of them while she was outside. She’s not Dull like most people. Rank the Red,. MAGA.

  12. The way I see it is, The more you wrote in this article, the more you proved Miss Palins point! Ranked choice voting was obviously pushed in by The RINO Markowski and the Democrats, and I totally agree with Palin on a earlier statement she made early on, Begich was most likely a shill(plant) who ran to split the Republican vote, he was never in it to win it, he was in it to lose it for the Republican Party, if not Then Palin should get the 2nd choice off every single Begich ballot that was cast! The truth is Election Fraud has got out of hand all over the Country, and it’s clearly got a foot hold now in the Great State of Alaska. Nationally, how is it that Many States can count 50-60 percent of the vote on election night, and then the numbers freeze in place for days or even weeks, but then other States keep counting and reporting and there numbers never become a real issues, so I’d say somethings going on that smells of fraud! And it seems to happen time and time again in the same states! It’s kind of funny how literally Thousands of Banks and other business’s can run through Billions of transactions every single day, 365 days a year , and you can check your transaction history on accounts 24 hours a day, and rarely if ever they make a mistake, and usually they notice and fix the problem before it’s even gets posted, plus you can get receipts with proof, or print outs showing your entire lifetime history, but when you vote you get nothing back for proof, and you can’t go into a archive and see your vote got counted or where and when, yet you can order something from Amazon and track it all across the dam country to your front door! Yet on the the 2nd Tuesday in November once a year they can’t count and process 150 million ballets in this Country with out problems and delays, the truth is kinda like Joeseph Stalin said decades ago, it’s not about how many votes you get. It’s who’s counting the votes that really matters. Anyone who doesn’t see we have real problems and Cheaters among us are clueless and Niave! Another thing, it’s totally odd how many races now days are basicly a dead heat and go back and forth, hundreds of races across the country have razor thin margins, this should tell us all something is not right, this has escalated beyond reality over the last 20’years, and since the hanging chads in the 2000 elections, some how our voting system has gotten over run by Fraud ! Lastly , any fools who believes Joe Biden got 80 million lugitament votes in 2020, And on last Tuesday a Neanderthal in a sweatshirt from Pennsylvania won a Senate Seat, then I’d say your either smoking way too much dope, or we have a lot of dumb people who are casting ballots, Personally I want to believe people are not capable of being that dumb! But maybe I’m wrong? But I really doubt that though!

    • You are wrong. Criticism of RCV wasn’t something Palin brought to the table.

      -> NB3 and many other Republicans have been criticizing RCV since its inception.

      -> Palin acted shocked to learn about RCV when she filed to run… well after the state had passed the measure.

      You can’t call NB3 the spoiler when he announced his candidacy before Palin ever did, filed to run before her, was the official party candidate, and racked up the endorsement of many past and present local Republicans.

      So what’s this “point” of Palin’s that this article proves? That RCV is bad? She’s a late arrival to that point and based on her social media posts evidently still doesn’t understand how it works. Really adds some context to her talking about the “bad advice” she said her advisors were giving her: she still thinks she gets Peltola’s second choice votes, even if Peltola doesn’t get eliminated. How crazy is that that? Her advisors were probably telling her to reach out to Nick voters and there she went, not criticizing Peltola, reaching out to Peltola voters, all the while casting shade on and alienating the NB3 voters. She STILL inexplicably thinks she’s running against Nick, not Peltola.

      I still ranked SP second but she has only herself to blame for this mess she made. Had she not entered the race, this would have been an easy, secure “R” seat. Now it’s a “D” seat, and no amount of rewriting the timeline makes that Nick’s fault.

    • Well DM your views are shared by many of us but it looks as if the majority of people who are to busy or don’t care are the real problem. If they got off their butts and voted it would be different. One way is to embrace the left and vote with them so we can hurry up and ruin this country then we can take the next step and fix it. Until people wake up to lost freedoms and choices and more money taken from them they don’t care. We are headed towards old England with kinks and serfs. And guess who the majority is going to be – worker bees for the king. They may wake up then and say what happened? So let’s hurry up and get there so we can fix it and live the way our country was suppose to have worked. To much power by the politicians is our own downfall.

    • Response to DM:
      Congratulations to someone who “gets it.” You’ve renewed my faith that there are still intelligent minds contributing to this website, even if they are only to be found in the COMMENTS!

  13. I think if Biden ran a second term and offered the job of Vice President to Sarah, Sarah would immediately jump on it. After all, like Biden, Sarah wouldn’t have to worry about thinking or answering questions but would only have to read a teleprompter with speeches written by Joe’s handlers. And Sarah has already proven she has no qualms about sticking it to Alaska and the Oil companies. She would gladly request that working Americans pay their “fair share” to support the Democrat spending programs. Sarah has no moral compass or brains for that matter. Sarah is only about Sarah and what is best for her. I’m not against the concept though. After all, as long as America is being flushed down the toilet, we might as well enjoy it and Sarah would provide great entertainment value…

  14. Several people have asked me to do a psycho-analysis of Sarah Palin, so I will cut to the chase, being that she is not difficult to assess. It’s very straight forward with this individual.

    1. Her childhood appears to have been relatively normal. Her parents were school teachers in conservative Idaho and most likely instilled high values and through good parenting. She may have been her father’s favorite.
    .
    2. Her move to Alaska as a child seems straight forward without difficulty.
    .
    3. She appears to be well-rounded, an attractive teen, and played basketball for her high school, seeking some early attention by boys.
    .
    4. There are reports that she had an alpha personality and showed leadership qualities.
    .
    5. Her college major was Communications which comports with her personality, that is, to create expressive routings to match her need for attention.
    .
    6. Her profession as a sportscaster demonstrates her desire to stay focused on less-skilled commentary, and uses rudimentary language and repeat phrases. This comports with the style of words and phrases she used in her political speeches.
    .
    7. She seems to be most comfortable around athletes, which gives her access to sporting men and allows her to gain significant attention.
    .
    8. Her marriage, at least in the early stages, seemed good. But her need for additional male attention becomes more focused as she gets older.
    .
    9. Her transition over to politics allows her to maintain the outward appearance of a family mom. Her secret desires for strong male attention is seen in her choices of roles in politics. She wants to be next to important and powerful men.
    .
    10. Because of her communication skills, her career in politics advances quickly, attributable primarily to older males who are in positions to promote her and place her in key roles.
    .
    11. She is able to develope cursory relationships
    with women only because she has cleverly crafted a dialogue with them that includes politics and religion, especially to like-minded moms. She has virtually no repoire with educated, single women.
    .
    12. Her meteoric rise in politics is the byproduct of men who see an opportunity to bolster themselves by including an attractive woman in their presence.
    .
    13. Her new found prominence literally overwhelms her because she does not possess the core logic or baseline reasoning to address complex issues. Instead, she begins mimicking the products of others who have the ability to reason the things that she cannot. This causes confusion to her, but her constituents fail to see her shortcomings because she is cute, attractive and young. She has mastered the ability to fool the public, or at least a good portion of it,
    while losing her ability to have a stable family life. .
    14. Delusion sets in, along with continuing fame, a tortious mixture for the mind.
    .
    15. Nearly 60-years old now and with a broken marriage behind her and children with an array of their own problems, she has reverted back to her youthful single years, in an attempt to trick the calander and the clock.
    .
    16. Her defiance and lashing out is a result of fewer admirers, a crushing blow to her ego.
    .
    17. Her past fame in the tabloids, however peculiar, did not seem to bother her because her own mind processes shallow activity, not intellectual stimulation.
    .
    18. Her anger is generated by her perception of abandonment, the least of which is that from her own family. The abandonment issues by her former electorate has fostered an extreme resentment, the least of which is now being played out in some Alaska news venues.
    .
    19. Her self-vision of being the most famous Alaskan ever, had been buttressed for the past two decades by her enablers. She has strong resentment for those who no longer support her or her brand.
    .
    20. Delusion, from a lack of structure and consistent principles, is the remaining product. She will try to bolster herself with a reversionary trip backwards, thinking that her past accomplishments, albeit brief and fleeting, will revive her back to her glory days.
    .
    21. Sadly, this person will grow more hostile over time, never being satisfied with what she presently has. She will seek retribution against anyone who gets in her way, and will slowly transgress into child-like behavior, and become more unstable. These conditions usually prelude into an insanity.

    • Brilliant analysis, Dr. Dan!
      .
      When Sarah stood up against the corrupt Frank Murkowski administration, and when she was running for governor, I liked her, as a person. But even then, it was clear that she was in over her head, and that she had advanced to a position beyond the required intellectual capabilities. And everything that has transpired with Sarah since then has only reinforced that evaluation, her run for the Senate seat here most of all.

    • Good analysis, Doc. The one thing you forgot to mention is Sarah’s lack of empathy. Many people have magnanimous empathy towards others, which is often heartfelt by their generosity. Others have a surface empathy, which is characterized by their words, but not by their actions. In otherwords, it sounds and looks good until you peel it away and see it for what it really is. And others have no empathy at all. Even cloaking or disguising it fails because of the way the person presents themselves. Most people recognize a phony, and there are plenty of them in politics. Sarah Palin is one of these people. She only has true feelings for herself. The ego controls all other actions. Too bad for the people who relentlessly apologize and fall for the phoniness of this kind of person.

    • The psycho analysis of Sara is missing a major point: Sarah shows all the signs of being an alcoholic. She blames everyone else for her mistakes and shortcomings, lashes out at anyone who has a different point of view, thinking more highly of herself than others, and is dependent upon a male figure to bolster her ego. Sarah–please just leave Alaska and live in the Lower 48 as you have been for the last 10 years!

      • Marla, above:
        Excellent point, and I should have caught it. Sarah has a serious personality disorder that can be diagnosed in forensic psychopathy.
        You are correct, being that her near total lack of empathy towards others is caused by selfishness and the need to manipulate others. Men typically fall into the category of criminal psychopathy when lacking empathy. Not so with women. Their’s are more structured in verbal communication, which can be very destructive in other ways.
        SP shows a strong tendency for this type of psychopathy, demonstrated through manipulation of her followers. However, her manipulative skills are not highly sophisticated or clever. She manipulates much like a charasmatic preacher, using an integration of politics and religion that pleases a small core of the public. She knows how to push those buttons for her believers and they will follow her blindly until she can deliver no more. Think Jim and Tammy Baker.
        Good contribution, Marla.

  15. This election has been rigged alright, by Sarah Palin’s giant ego! Only a blind fool would fall for this act at this point…

  16. The woman is a pos …imo.
    But as an old boss used to say “she’s as crazy as a fox”
    Her campaign charade might have worked in a normal GOP primary, but now only helps Sarah, as she will be a Q-non, NewsMax star & it will give her income to support her NY/Fla lifestyle (boyfriend has a place in both)
    I can not believe she still misunderstands RCV to this extent, at this point. It’s gotta be an act.
    The swamp, the RINO, the phony elections, all ganged up on poor, honest, Christian me (“I never swear”)
    She will milk the wing nuts & take money from those people that P.T. Barnum told us are born every minute.
    Well good for you Palin, you so deserve it. I hope you stay back east (in the swamp) forever.

  17. Ranked choice is a election tamper strategy. Just like removing party affiliation from municipal elections. The left wing diatribe will always fabricate an ‘it’s a good thing’ rationale, but it is borne from exhaustive study of voter behavior. NOT the ‘interests of the people.

  18. When Palin starts talking the hearers need to take a deep breath and bow their head remembering an excitable speaker’s job is to get you excited even beyond rational thoughts. Focusing on your breath would keep more people from getting sucked in to hype taking the peoples energy away from work what really matters.

  19. Since it appears that we have a replay of the special election, we can assume ~15,000 Begich votes will go to Peltola. And with that, she wins. We get what we asked for, as a voting populace. And the “red” Alaska electorate can announce its funeral date.

  20. What happened to “hold your nose, anyone but a Democrat”? Seems like people are forgetting the real problem. Arguments like this should take place after the enemy has been defeated; this “infighting” is a result of Democrat agitprop political attacks.

    • Another Alaskan,
      I held my nose and voted for the unstable Sandy the Squirrel Palin as my second. Trouble is many folks have a more highly refined olfactory sense than I do. Go figure, since Covid I all but lost my taste and sniffer departments making voting for the Crazy Palin a lot easier.

  21. 43000 instagram followers represents people from anywhere and likely a good size percentage from outside of Alaska who would not be voting here. Really not much indication on how elections will turn out. Ranked choice voting desperately needs to go. Better voting laws need to be written and our voter rolls need to be cleaned up.

  22. I suspect many – if not most – of Begich’s voters realized after August’s election that they had to rank the red and gave their second vote to Palin rather than Peltola. But I also think just enough Begich voters refused to choose any second ranking, which will give Peltola the win again.

  23. Alaskan’s are getting what they deserve since no one took the time to understand Rank(ed) Choice Voting early on and then the pundits fell in line as the Soros backed deep state knew they would, letting Begich split the vote, put a Native Alaskan forward to carry that demographic and poured money on lying Lisa. It’s so obvious it’s painful.

    • Check your timeline, Begich was the official Republican Candidate as he had declared he was running back in Fall 2021, prior to Young’s death.

      Palin, the carpet-bagging self-aggrandizer that she is, only filed after Young’s death, barely making the deadline this Spring. Apparently without bothering to understand how RCV works.

      She is the splitter. People actively voted against her due to her prior political shenanigans and failures, Nick didn’t have that problem. At least until Trump opened his fat mouth to bless Palin’s farcical campaign, knowing nothing about Alaskan politics.

  24. “Even Kelly Tshibaka, who still holds the lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has not declared victory. With her 44% result to Murkowski’s 42%, the math is just too difficult for Tshibaka. It will take a miracle.”
    .
    This Rank Choice Voting has brought even greater shame upon Murkowski than she could do on her own, and that is saying something. She endeavored to give herself six more years to continue on “with her work”. The shamefulness of her legacy can only increase. She will reap what she has sown.

    • Can’t shame a person who has none.

      I’m not gonna be surprised if Princess jumps to the Democrats or does an Angus King and become “independent”.

      As Alaska blues up more each day, there is no need for her to continue the Republican pretense.

      She’s made her disrespect for the party, it’s base, and Alaska clear.

      • For all intents and purposes, the only one left for her to turn her back on is the devil. Repent Lisa. There is still time.

        • Billy, Except Sarah still wants to use the Party Platform and Brand. Trouble is, the Party had already cast it’s lot with Begich when Sarah came home to run for office. Poor Sarah.

          Sarah has made a living out of being a victim, suffering at the hands of one group or another.
          Somebody needs to make a movie about this woman. Oliver Stone, are you reading this?

          • I was talking about Lisa Murkowski and not Sarah Palin Bobby. Further, so was everyone else here. You need to get with the program here-you’re slipping!
            Old age? Heheh!

  26. Excellent facts and analysis!
    Sadly, the math is there that Mary will win. As Suzanne pointed out in a previous article, Mary will be one the bottom 4 or 5 as to “seniority” in the now Minority Party. Thus, Alaska will not be well represented.
    Sarah and her cult will never admit this, but she is dead, politically. I will bet that like when she was a FOX News Contributor for not even a year, that she will not last in NewsMax either. If they do hire her as a contributor, that will not last long either.
    The key is can this new Republican Majority in the House actually do something positive? Weill this be more of the Party of No that the Dems will attack like they have i the past? Sure I wont to stop cold anything Biden wants or the Nancy or Chucky Boy want and if that means NO, time and again, I want them to do so! I also want them to put forward bills that are positive for our nations and State, knowing that the Senate will filibuster and the Democrats there will be THE PARTY OF NO! God I hope they are the Minority of at least 2! Cause of Lisa wind, she will vote with them!
    Sarah, go bye bye to Florida with your boyfriend! I am sure Ron DeSantis will not listing to you. Maybe you can become a resident there and run for office there. Good luck on that!

  27. Something continually ignored. Queen Sarah never bothered to work for votes. As weak a candidate as Nick was, he campaigned.

    Queen Sarah just called for the peasants to give her her just due.

    If the system is gonna work (arguably it’s not working), votes must be earned. Not demanded.

    Queen Sarah didn’t do the work to earn the votes.

    • I agree, Nick did work very hard campaigning. I was hoping he would get more votes than Sarah. I hope to see Nick back on the campaign trail because he did run a good race and he can be proud of himself. I don’t know about Sarah? What will she do now? Probably continue to be a guest host on News Max? It’s sad. ?

    • I am usually in agreement with you on these threads but I have to disagree on one comment. I think Nick Begich is the strongest candidate the Republicans have put up for statewide office in years. He faced a 50 year incumbent, an endorsement and rally for his opponent from Trump in a state Trump won by 10 points, a former governor and VP candidate with 100% name ID, was dramatically outspent, faced down national media and had the difficulty of overcoming the most well known Democrat name in Alaska.

      He outperformed his opponents in every debate and forum. He outworked the other candidates. We know he would have won the special election without Palin in the race. He has the support of almost every conservative officeholder in Alaska. He has a bright future and we need him to stay in the fight.

  28. For the TLDR crowd:

    1. Almost half the voters chose someone who’s main qualities include: “she’s really nice” and “she likes fish”

    2. Almost another 30% chose an absolute nut job surrounded by even crazier acolytes that will rationalize anything she says or does, no matter how absurd it is (i.e. a cult)

    We are so screwed…

  29. Something I’ve been wondering for some time. If the Democrats were behind the push for Sarah to run from the beginning.

    Knowing her ego, all it would take was a strong nudge. Tell her Alaska needs her.

    Knowing her astonishing high negatives statewide, the left knew she’d never win. But she would easily torpedo a Republican.

    It’s not the left is brilliant. It’s the GOP universally and here in particular are ragingly stupid.

  30. The ranked choice mess was the Democrats cheat tool and Alaska fell right for it.
    We need to get back to paper ballots like MatSu after Jan 1, eliminate Ranked Choice Cheating and have it like it has always been. Two candidates.
    Human beings counting and not the Dominion machines.
    The entire state needs to get back to what actually worked in the past…
    Because folks like me, who have lived here for over 50 years, can see what’s behind the veil of lies the Left has provided.
    The new way of voting gives them a clear path to confusing the masses.. Are we going to let this continue or are we going to demand things change??
    Undo Ranked Choice immediately.

    • So you want your freedom to pick the candidate you want be handed to a party to annoit someone who is not your choice?

      I thought you wanted freedom.

      • Once again, you fail to comprehend how a proper primary system works and this thing called delegates. Jungle primaries and RCV are totally antithetical to that and is a painfully obvious huge scam. It is no surprise to anyone who can connect a few dots, this is why we are in this mess and the laughingstock of the nation.

      • Maureen, Are you talking about Mary, Mary here? Ask Allen Gross about the Democrats love of “Freedom” and one’s ability to run for office. Yes, it sucks when a Party “anoints” just one particular candidate. Not very free is it Maureen.

        And why do you use the nomenclature of the Bible when talking about politics Maureen?

  31. Ranked Choice Voting was ushered in for Murkowski to stay in office. It worked, we are all but pawns. Leave it at that. We as a conservative state have to pull together and get back on track.

    • RCV was originally introduced for Bill Walker, by his former Chief of Staff, Scott Kendall. The unions wanted to get Walker back and the unions worked ferociously to get RCV approved by the electorate. Walker is now history. But Murkowski is the big benefactor and she has dodged many bullets. Say what you want about her, but her survivability factor is quite strong. The Murkowski family will have been in power for nearly 50 years after Lisa’s next term. Credit Nancy Murkowski, not Frank, for making this all possible.

        • They’re alive.
          Old Frank, & the Missus, were at Princess’s watch party on election night celebrating 50 yrs of Murkowsks’ OWNING an Alaskan Senate seat.
          Is that what the founding fathers had in mind?
          A wealthy banking family controlling a Senate seat for 50 YEARS!
          Probably not, eh?

          • The old bank robber Frank finally got busted by Alaskans in 2006. He put his flaming liberal Democrat daughter in to rescue the family name. Their government Lear jet got sold and Frank wiped-out all his senior friend’s Longevity Bonus checks. Nancy is old and wrinkled-up, searching for new friends and banished from Republican coffee hours. The old greedy couple can now sit back and count their money in their final days, knowing that they once again stole another election in Alaska for their lunatic daughter. History has been made, just not the kind that keeps your old friends nearby. So long, selfish Murkowskis.

        • You know what, Julia? I doubt Frank or Nancy give a rip about their old friends from Alaska, let alone all the little, average Alaskans that they never met. They have all the money they ever wanted and now they will just get older thinking how smart and influential they were and that their legacy should be enshrined on America’s tallest peak.

  32. What is so frustrating about this is between the two conservatives they have more votes then Peltola and she will have a fake win. Had Gross stayed in democrats would have had the same issue. Palin and Bagisch should have decide which was going to make the run and hold a press conference to tell their supporters. Obviously neither cared about Alaska, only their individual power grab. We will now have two democrats in congress Murkowski and Peltola and neither represent conservatives. We need RCV rescinded!

    • There’s no “both sides” here between Begich and Palin. Nick declared his candidacy back in Fall of 2021, while Don was still alive. Sarah the self-aggrandizing quitter, who has massive negative numbers in this State among Republicans, much less the conservative Independents you must have on board to win, dove in only after Young’s death, registering barely under the deadline. She is the late-comer, she is the “splitter, and Trump’s gobsmackingly stupid endorsement of her, likely just because, like Oz, he had heard of her, created this mess.

      Her candidacy made the race about her, not the issues, which allowed Peltola to escape real scrutiny.
      Palin even apparently didn’t understand anything about RCV, which led her to attack Begich and cozy up to Peltola to try to get her supporters second votes, which was never going to happen, even if RCV worked that way. Because of Palin, and to a degree Trump, we have lost the seat for at least two years and will be facing trying to unseat an incumbent in ’24.

      All Sarah had to do was stay gone. Hopefully she will after this.

  33. Sarah is backed up in a corner like Trump. Legal actions are going to take them both down. They try to blackball the ones who stand for law and order. Then they profess innocence in the whole matter. No. They will end up in prison. Not office.

  34. Remember the same measuring stick will be used on all you judgmental good kind folk. WOW Sara could of became president all on her own she was making so many accomplishments. All And all here we are today. The Begich family has been exposed for the oath breakers they are no accomplishments they can list it’s about accomplishments for the citizens. Not the spin doctors on television. Sara has more class guts and brains then the unforgiving judging types on must read. Look at our election officials and oath breakers they must be saints on must read. I think you are all jealous of Sara. Suzanne your site is fun and awesome but Sara is a good one not a bad one. Expose the oath breakers who got us here come on man your president would say.

  35. Sarah Palin has come a very long way from the first time I learned about her in the 2006 governor’s race. Back then I thought she seemed like a level-headed, conservative leader. And for about two years after her election, she was exactly the kind of governor we needed, fixing the problems that Frank Murkowski either ignored or created. Sadly I think national exposure in 2008 really got to her head. After her resignation, Palin left the state and seemed to only care about cultivating her national profile. She apparently forgot about the people who remained in Alaska. She even helped get that buffoon Walker elected in 2014! Now in 2022 she expects us to just forget all of this and carry her back to stardom. Sorry Sarah, it doesn’t work like that.

  36. WE ARE ABOUT TO LOSE OUR NATION. HOW can this be true when they have only collected 30,000 ballots so far ? doesnt add up. Only one in 3 Alaskans vote at all , and the ones that did this time DO NOT KNOW WHERE THEIR BALLOTS ARE at present. Lots of cheating to do before Nov 23rd.

  37. Seeing Palin blame Nick, this article written by SD, and Trump stirring things up within his own base, we are truly doomed. Not saying any of the criticism isn’t warranted. It’s actually worse if it is warranted. I’m saying there are serious issues with leadership in the GOP and we can’t seem to support each other, which is dumb, because there is plenty to agree on that is worth a whole lot more than our differences.

    • Tom,
      In order to de-program and un-brainwash the Palin fanatics, the Truth must be presented everyday in some form. Once these people finally see the light, Conservatives will eventually come together again. Palin is mesmerizing to the weak ones. Fortunately, Alaska is near to seeing the end of Sarah Palin.

  39. A clear, cogent, and correct analysis. People entitled to their own opinions, but they aren’t entitled to their own facts, or election results.

  40. All this complaining about RCV! Oy vey! All you need to do, Alaska GOP, is control your members so that, in the name of vanity, no one jumps in and splits the vote. You’d better learn how to play the RCV game, or change it, else you’ll suffer the same defeats in the future.

    You got played the first time by letting RCV be adopted, and then again when you couldn’t muster the discipline to beat it.

    • You mean like Gara/Walker? The gnome and the troll? Dunleavy beat them both combined with over 50%. Sweet victory for Big Mike.

    • Credit to you when you’re correct. Your analysis is dead on.

      The GOP loses because they have no leadership, are lazy, and have not clearly stood for something in at least a decade.

      As much as I detest Biden, he ran on a platform for destroying the energy sector and has done everything in his power to do so. If only the GOP had that kind of commitment.

  41. The late and great Rush Limbaugh, I believe coined the term “Low information voters”. This in my opinion is precisely what caused this election to go off the rails. It began with the proposition last time on RCV. I personally know of nobody that voted for RCV. Obviously some did. It would appear that we lose a Republican seat in the house to Peltola, and it has all to do with RCV. Nick Begich was one of the hardest working people I have ever seen on a campaign and in this case without a doubt in my opinion the best candidate for the seat. Sarah (that would be Sarah with an H) Palin, jumps into the fray at the last possible moment following the death of Don Young. Palin it would seem seizing yet another opportunity for limelight. Peltola, the Bethel fish queen, rails on about Pro-Choice, fish and 2nd amendment rights for subsistence hunting. The Moose & Caribou are unlikely to attack. A tyrannical government on the other hand is far more likely to attack. FBI,CIA, 87,000 armed IRS agents? Bottom line? Low information voters. Unable to see the folly of RCV, unable to see the opportunistic move of the very marginally qualified Palin, can’t get past the “Begich” name and recognize the tremendous potential of NBIII, and buying the ridiculous pro-choice story from the fish queen. You want an abortion in Alaska? get it, overturning Roe V Wade simply returned the decision to the individual states where it belongs.

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