Palin entering Alaska’s 2022 US Senate race would be many things, but not boring

Let’s face it, too many politicians nowadays are petty, self-serving and, even worse, mind-numbingly boring. Then there is Alaska’s former celebrity governor, Sarah Palin. She is many things: erratic; dysfunctional; even half-baked. Boring is not on the list.

As if to prove that point, she again is making noises from the nosebleed seats that she may run for the U.S. Senate against three-term incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski — but only if summoned to the contest by a higher power.

“If God wants me to do it, I will,” Palin said in a videotaped interview during a leadership conference co-sponsored by Harvest International Ministry and the Latino Coalition for Israel. It would, she said, “be a sacrifice,” but she is game. Harvest International posted the video on Instagram last month.

Whether she actually is thinking about running or this is just an another attempt to keep her name in the headlines, even in small print on the back page, is anybody’s guess, but count me among those political voyeurs who absolutely would love to see her leap in for, admittedly, all the shamefully wrong reasons.

[Curious Alaska: What’s Sarah Palin up to these days?]

Her entry would be akin to tossing gasoline on a smoldering fire; pulling the trigger on a loaded gun pointed at a box of dynamite; or, sticking your finger into a light socket. It could be painful and weird, but something to watch, not unlike a train wreck.

Murkowski, whose biggest sin is being a moderate Republican, has not yet even announced whether she will run. She is on the outs with Alaska Republican pooh-bahs because she does not always play kissy-face with Senate GOP leaders, although they say they would support her in a Senate run. Add to that, she was one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict former President Donald Trump at the end of his second impeachment trial for “inciting an insurrection” at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was acquitted.

She is challenged by Kelly Tshibaka, a little-known figure nationally who headed the Alaska Department of Administration under Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Trump, who has vowed to campaign against Murkowski, saying, “She’s not good for Alaska,” has embraced Tshibaka, as have many state Republicans.

If Palin were to join the race, it would not be the first time she has crossed swords with Murkowski. Palin worked with Joe Miller to defeat Murkowski in the 2010 Republican primary. Alaska Native communities and unions, along with moderate Republicans and Democrats, joined to back Murkowski, who defeated Miller in the general election that year and helped her post the first Senate write-in general election victory in 50 years.

In 2018, after Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against pushing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court through to a final vote, Palin tweeted: “Hey @LisaMurkowski — I can see 2022 from my house …”

Palin was referring to a 2013 “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring comedian Tina Fey, in which Fey, as Palin, said, “I can see Russia from my house.” It has become a comedic staple, with the quote often misattributed to Palin.

Maybe it is time for a Palin return. After years of blah-blah-blah politics in Alaska, how can you not miss the lovely Sarah P and her merry band of Palinistas? They were a barrel of populist fun. Who does not miss her down-the-rabbit-hole nuttiness? The daily dumpster fires. Paranoia. Angst. Flips here. Flops there. The “Bridge to nowhere.” It never stopped.

Her 965-day term was marked by Troopergate, email fiascos, ethic investigations, handing out more than $1 billion in $1,200 “energy rebates” just for the heck of it, saddling the state with Alaska’s Clear and Equitable oil tax, a levy that choked off oil industry investment, and foisting the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act on Alaska. The list goes on and on.

While much time has passed since her brief term as governor and her failed 2008 vice presidential bid with John McCain, make no mistake, she still has the stuff of nightmares. Who, after all, will ever be able to forget her “Baby Got Back” performance on The Masked Singer last year?

Palin, a Trumper long before Trump was even a thing, claims she was hounded out of state office by the evil news media’s pesky questions and mounting legal bills. Why she would want more of that kind of grief is, at best, puzzling, but political talk, after all, is cheap. She may just be having a little fun at Murkowski’s expense.

It remains to be seen whether God will call upon her to run for Murkowski’s Senate seat, but speaking for some of us on a more corporal level:

It would be fun — at least for a while.

Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com, a division of Porcaro Communications.

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