Nevada;Once Again A Triumphant Sarah Palin Confounds Her Enemies

Chris Cillizza examines possible vice-presidential running mates for Donald Trump "It's time."

There is a voting site up at "Who Might be Donald Trump's
Vice-President"

In his final Nevada address Donald Trump made his gratitude clear once again "Having Sarah Palin's backing has been fantastic she's been so great she's been so great"


Karl Rove's "The Architect" crown has been handed over to Governor Palin. Palin can contemplate Donald Trump's massive victory in Nevada, following on from South Carolina and New Hampshire, with much satisfaction.

I was going to title this article "Once Again A Triumphant Sarah Palin humbles her Enemies " but on reflection I realized that her enemies in the media, blogs and the bizarrely obsessed Twitter world would never be "humbled" even if she were elected Pope. So "confounds" will suffice.

As well as being, of course, Trump's night of triumph against the same ragtag collection Governor Palin has, as she usually does, backed a winner.  The "Palin's endorsement is the kiss of death" crowd have slunk off into the night and mist from whence they came.

It is indisputable that prior to her endorsement of Trump he was trailing Senator Cruz and, immediately after her endorsement Trump took the lead. He then gained such momentum that the campaigns became, in reality, a battle for second place between Cruz and Rubio in ensuing battles no matter what the pretense was otherwise by their campaigns and a frustrated Establishment and media.

In retrospect wiser observers now consider Trump's second place in Iowa a near miracle given the nature of the terrain and the shonky, to say the least, campaign tactics (and Trump's admitted learning curve.) 

There can be no doubt whatsoever that if Palin had endorsed Cruz for Iowa he would have won in a landslide and Trump would have finished a distant third and probably out of the subsequent running

After Palin's endorsement the media went into a frenzy of hate and ridicule against her which actually exceeded the early campaign days of 2008. A check of Google in the ensuing week found more than 10,000 articles about her. By my reckoning there were just eight which could have been judged totally positive. But, 10,000 to 1 against Palin-odds easily shrugged off.

The rest were a mixture of sarcasm "her weird endorsement speech"* the dredging up of old, mostly false stories "I can see Russia from my house" and the well past it's use by shtick from the likes of Tina Fey at SNL and the dreadful Colbert.

It's too much to hope the dinosaur media and television will ever come to realize that it's not 2008, she's not a candidate and all their efforts influence nobody. You either like Palin or you don't, everything else is a waste of time and just goes to antagonize those who support her and make them more determined to support her.

Palin's endorsement was a key factor because she is universally recognized by conservatives ** as one of their own. If she endorsed Trump then clearly that was proof positive, especially to those in Iowa, she saw in him the same conservative principles she espouses. It was at that point that Cruz's eventual decline set in.  After all, she had endorsed him for senator and now endorsed Trump, for a rung far above, that for president.

Of course Trump ran a brilliant campaign after that in New Hampshire. His attacks on Cruz's citizenship, his leaving Cruz in the firing line by not entering a fixed debate were masterstrokes. Added to that Cruz, whose "Iowa victory" was short lived, committed a number of gaffe's particularly with a ridiculous "fail" mailer and the Carson disgrace. 

That the media kept questioning Trump's poll lead with "will his supporters turn out" whilst they were standing in the cold for hours just to see him was silly, so to was the thought that Trump would not have given huge attention to getting his supporters to caucus.

The proof of Palin's decisive influence on the Iowa campaign was provided, by of all people, Joe Scarborough on 'Morning Joe' whose consultant produced this graph. It is devastatingly clear (although Scarborough tried to play it down);

And here is further indisputable proof of the power of Palin's endorsement

The final Poll of all polls at Huffington Post pollster aggregate and trend line had Trump by exactly 8 points 32.1% to Cruz 24.1%, Trump was 29.5% averaging the day before Pain's endorsement. To move a gross average that much in such a short time is exceptional and takes an exceptional event. Clearly there was no momentum for Trump prior to the endorsement.

Rasmussen found a +6 positive for a Palin endorsement***

The polls went crazy for Trump by the 23rd, as did the betting markets****

Trump didn't need Palin's assistance in New Hampshire, but she was be rolled out for robocal duty in South Carolina. Once her commitment to husband Todd's IronDog race is done she may be on duty in Nevada but, as that seems a lock, possibly not. She was wildly popular in Florida and it would seem sensible for her to make an appearance at her old stomping grounds.

With Texas possibly being the end of Cruz's campaign if he loses to Trump then it would be beyond ironic that where Palin commenced Cruz's rise she ended it by campaigning there.

Trump now seems well placed to "run the table" if he does, and proceeds to the nomination it is utterly ironic that one of her most strident critics Nicolle Wallace  should have got it right. Writing in 'The New York Times' she said "Should he come out on top in Iowa, he has her to thank."

Exactly so. One would hope, having now been utterly chastened by Trump whom the entire media got wrong, they would wake up and see Palin as the kingmaker and stop the sarcasm but if they don't-more fools them. In the meantime Palin and Trump can enjoy their triumph, the first of many more to come.

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*The harpy Kathleen Parker on Palin's endorsement;

"Trump listening hard trying figure out what this strange creature from Alaska is talking about."


**The Palin Effect "The Palin endorsement boosted Trump considerably among voters who identify as 'very conservative' and 'tea party'."
http://www.breitbart.com/

***Does Palin Help or Hurt Trump?

****  "Sarah Palin, from the (Betting) market’s perspective, has given us an earth-shattering, game-changing event."