“Mama Grizzly Man: why the candidate of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party is losing in Alaska,” written by Alexandra Gutierrez on Slate, begins:

On Tuesday, in her home state, Sarah Palin’s favorite will probably get trounced. Joe Miller is widely expected to lose by a large margin to incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary—an embarrassing defeat for the former governor, who has endorsed Miller, but also to Miller’s other major backer, the Tea Party Express…

Always a long shot, Miller lags behind Murkowski, the heir to one of Alaska’s political dynasties, by double digits.

In her next round of anti-Palin crowing, Gutierrez wrote a hatchet-job, this time for the American Prospect,  entitled “The End of Palin as Kingmaker.” In anticipation of Joe Miller’s assured “trouncing,”  Gutierrez relished the fact that Sarah Palin’s influence was at its lowest low ebb. If Palin could’t even move a race in her home state, where she once enjoyed the highest approval rating of any governor in the country, where could she win? Gutierrez wrote:

If she doesn’t represent Alaska, it’s become abundantly obvious that she doesn’t represent the views of many other states, either…

Today Miller will be added to that list of those embarrassments [failed endorsements], and there will be some fretting about Sarah Palin’s status as a GOP star. And maybe — just maybe — those fascinated by her will start to realize what Alaskans have long figured out: These days, the former governor is more ringmaster than kingmaker.

However, a funny thing happened on the way to the circus. Joe Miller didn’t just make it close; it appears as though he pulled off a stunning upset, and ousted GOP incumbent senator, and member of the the Alaskan royal family, Lisa Murkowski. Who does Miller credit? Again from Gutierrez:

The Miller team, though, sees Palin’s support as one of their most powerful weapons. “An endorsement from her is kind of like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” says Randy DeSoto, his spokesperson. It put Miller “on the national map.”

In fact, it doesn’t stop there. Today on Red State Erick Erickson had this to say:

Last night on CNN I suggested that Palin’s endorsements only matter in some cases like Nikki Haley’s, but over all were no more impactful than other endorsements. Glad to say I was wrong. She’s five for five last night it seems with Miller bringing her up to six for six. And there are a number of state legislative races in Alaska where her support was critical.

Governor Palin’s string of winning endorsements contradicts the prevailing wisdom that the Governor does not appeal to the electorate (a point I have made). Contra the ‘consensus’ opinion, it would appear as though a Palin endorsement can make all the difference in a winning campaign. It is difficult to imagine the GOP primary in Alaska being anything but a formality, but for Sarah Palin. As Palin accumulates chips, with a growing list of winning candidates to her name, the ‘unwinnable’ argument ought to be thrown on the ash heap of history.