Republican: Palin is another Huckabee
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/26/art.palinwave0726.gi.jpg caption="On her final day in office, Republican expressed a range of views about Gov. Palin's political future."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) – It looks like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may have one less fan.
On the same day that Palin is set to transfer power to her lieutenant governor, Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said her prospects for national office looked grim.
“’I’ve been a supporter of Sarah Palin - at times,” Castellanos said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “She gave the McCain campaign its best two weeks. But, you know, if we’re going to be critical of Democrats when they shirk their responsibilities, we have do the same within our own house. She abandoned her state in the middle of a term.”
On the national political stage, Castellanos, who worked as a political consultant for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential bid, likened Palin to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The Arkansas Republican’s long shot bid for the White House in the last election cycle gained traction when he pulled out a surprise win in Iowa’s Republican caucus but then Huckabee lost steam when he could not follow through with wins in other key primaries.
“We’re going to have a division in the Right in the Republican Party,” Castellanos told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “We now have two Mike Huckabees – people who have a powerful force in the party but can’t get out of the party in a general election and win.”
Conservative radio talk show host Bill Bennett was noncommittal about Palin’s prospects.
“I have no opinion about this. I really don’t know what’s going to happen with Sarah Palin,” Bennett told King.
Also on State of the Union Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested Palin has a bright future within the Republican Party.
“Boy, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sarah Palin,” McConnell told King, “She excites an awful lot of members of my party. They’re anxious to see what she’s going to do next and so am I.”
“I hope, as a Democrat, Mitch McConnell is right,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala told King. “I hope she’s their nominee because I think she’s the easiest to beat.”
Related: I'm not thinking about Palin's new move, Obama aide says
Begala, Bennett, and Castellanos are all CNN Political Contributors.
Updated: 4:24 p.m.
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tell us something we haven't known for over two years...you're just catching on now Alex? I would say you're not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Sara will do fine maybe not in the washington arena because i think she is to honest. She wouldn't lie to us like.
No Lobbist in my adminstration.
No tax on the middle class.(cap and trade, Social medican.)
Well I could go on but heven forbid if their was someone honest in WASHINGTON.
Palin is the most polarizing member of her party. When you figure in how disingenuous she is it adds up to 4 more years of Obama as the lesser of two evils candidate all over again.
Hear this Palin supporters: SHE IS TOAST. . . .
It is curious that most media outlets have concentrated on the recent ABC/WaPo poll, giving Governor Palin's favourable/unfavourable rating at 40%/53%. There seems to have been very little reporting of her favourable/unfavourable ratings by Rasmussan 47/45, Pew 47/46, Gallup 43/45, and Public Policy Polling 47/45. In a July survey, Public Policy Polling gave her a score of 43% to Obama's 51% in a 2012 hypotethical matchup. This was a gap of 8%, which compares with a gap of 20 points (35%/55%) for a similar poll last March. The July poll was taken after her resignation as Governor. No one with any political acument can doubt that she is the most potent threat that the Democrats face in 2010 and 2012.
The fact that Bill Bennett has no opinion on this is insightful. It demonstrates how low these guys really are.
The Republican Governor of a state, one with obvious Presidential aspirations, quits in the middle of scandal after scandal laid at her feet and Bennett has no opinion? Beyond disgusting.
I burned his crappy morality books as the opportunistic pieces of fraud they really are. And to think I once admired this guy.
Run, Sarah, Run. 2012 is your time to take on the Republican establishment and re-own the party for the social conservatives. You should also propose changing the party name to the Conservative Republican Party, as that is what it truly is. Go girl!
Are you sure Senator McConnell, when talking about Sara Palin, didn't say, "She excites an awful lot of my party's members!"
I personally believe she has a lot going for her. I also liked the Titanic, and the stock market in 1929. If she supports the Birther movement, she has my vote.
No accident that your headline on the homepage says "GOP loser" instead of "Huckabee" in the comparison to Palin. CNN, you are pathetic. You have sacrificed all journalistic integrity and objectivity in favor of plugging an Obama agenda. I notice that you headline any poll that has unfavorable numbers for Palin, but haven't mentioned at all that Obama's approval ratings are hitting all-time lows. Keep the propaganda going, CNN! You are truly scum when it comes to journalistic quality and integrity, and your ratings will continue to tank.
Palin keeps asking God what she should do next, but He keeps replying, "I'll have to get back to ya on that, Sarah".
Palin is planning on being the next rush or ann coulter. She is perfect for the job. She can make alot of money and get alot of attention, which is what she really wants. She would never make it in a national elected position. She is just not up to it.
I don't know, the more I hear about Sarah Palin the more I'm beginning to like her. If she were to run against Obama you better bet I'd vote for Palin.
Palin is runing for the Presidency in 2012??? Why??? So shr can quit afetr 2 years???
She couldn't defeat Obama last year, how can she defeat him in 2012?? Go ahead, make my day and let Palin run for office.
Don't put her down, she is the best the GOP has to offer!! Sarah, please, run in 2012!! During these extremely hard times we are going through we need the laughter you bring into our lives!!! With health care premiums being so high we need tons of laughter in our lives to keep the doctor away! Thanks, Sarah, for being so thoughtful.
The Republican "Pit Bull" is appropriately nick-named and represents the party quite accurately. They're not the brightest dog, they behave badly when threatened, and stupid people will gather to watch them fight.
In God she trust and not on manipulations. The conscience of truth will always overcome...let sarah live her freedom as it best suits her creator and family.
Palin... HAR HAR.