In a tense press conference on the lawn of her Wasilla waterfront home on Monday, congressional candidate Sarah Palin lashed out, casting blame for why she failed to get enough voters to win the temporary seat for Congress, and calling her Republican opponent names, such as “Baggage” and “Negative Nick.”
For a half hour, she lashed out at Nick Begich, who is also running for Congress. And it was Suzanne Downing of Must Read Alaska who is especially a “problem,” she said.
She lectured the media and told them if they don’t respect her property they won’t be invited back, and scolded them to stop hiding out in the woods by her home. If they want to get pictures, she said, contact Kris Perry, her campaign manager, and Perry will help them with pictures.
Then she called for Nick Begich to drop out of the congressional race because “conservative votes are obviously being split and ranked choice voting is obviously a scheme,” she said. “It’s a racket.”
“And I want to clear up some lies that some of you reporters have actually helped perpetuate,” she said. “And that’s not fair, and that’s not right. Those who have, Suzanne Downing, you particularly perpetuating the problem. You give journalists a bad name. Like that this isn’t really my home, that I don’t really live in Alaska, which cracks us up…” She went on to explain she had lived in the home since her children were small.
Must Read Alaska did report on Sarah and Todd Palin purchasing a lot in Arizona and getting ready to leave Alaska. Those plans were dashed when Todd divorced her.
Palin did not call on Libertarian candidate Chris Bye to drop out, nor did she attack Democrat Mary Peltola, who won the temporary seat for Congress. She and Peltola have become something of political allies.
Palin had special ire toward Nick Begich, who she pronounced “Nick Baggage.” After insulting him, she said he has until 5 pm Monday to resign from the race. The Division of Elections cutoff is 5 pm for the Nov. 8 ballot.
“I’m calling on negative Nick Begich to get out of this race,” Palin told reporters and supporters gathered on the lawn outside her Lake Lucille home. “He does not represent the best of Alaska. He represents the good old boys network, the establishment and yes, the liberals, the liberals in the Democrat Party. Only a Democrat sympathizer would selfishly stay in this race after getting thumped three times, three times in a row by his GOP opponent, just to enable a Democrat to hold the Alaskan people’s seat in the United States House of Representatives.”
While others have called on Palin to drop out, she said she will not.
The half-hour press conference can be watched at this Alaska News Source link on Facebook.
Begich took the high road, and said he will not be withdrawing from the race and said that mathematically he has the best shot at beating Democrat Mary Peltola in November, since Palin’s negatives are so high, with over 60% of Alaskans viewing her unfavorably. He spent the day at the Alaska State Fair meeting as many Alaskans as he could on the fair’s final day.
“We are confident that we are on a positive trajectory to win in November,” Begich said. “Ranked choice voting showed that Palin simply doesn’t have enough support from Alaskans to win an election and her performance in the Special was embarrassing as a former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate. Pollsters have been telling us for months that Sarah Palin cannot win a statewide race because her unfavorable rating is so high. These same polls have consistently shown that Alaskans are looking for a less polarizing alternative.”
“I have introduced myself to Alaskans, I have steadily increased my percentage of the vote since the June 11 Special Primary election. I will continue traveling the state, making the case that this election is about a choice between Mary Peltola and Nick Begich,” he said in a statement.
At present, 41% of Alaska voters lean Republican, while 31% lean Democrat, and 28% have no particular preference, but are swing voters.
