Kingmaker

In yesterday’s post-mortems about the apparent big upset in Alaska, I heard a lot of commentators going back and forth about Sarah Palin’s winning percentage in the various endorsements she’s made over the last year. I think that line of commentary misses the point. While her percentage is pretty decent, what really stands out has been her ability to completely transform a handful of races, taking some candidates who weren’t even in contention and make them winners, almost entirely on the strength of her endorsement.