Thaindian News

DES MOINES, IOWA (BNO NEWS) – Sarah Palin on Friday rallied a rising schism within the Republican Party in Des Moines, Iowa after demanding that the party unite behind the candidates she has supported all over the country.

During the speech, Palin took the time to criticize former Bush adviser Karl Rove, who blasted Delaware GOP U.S. Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell for her lack of experience and alleged that she says “nutty things”, causing distress within the Republican Party. Sarah Palin defended her, saying that Karl “will see the light and realize that these are just the normal, hardworking, patriot Americans who are saying, ‘No. Enough is enough. We want to turn this around and we want to get right back to these time-tested truths that are right for America.’”

Politico reported Palin dismissing Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski who is attempting to revive her re-election bid using a write-in campaign after losing her primary, saying that Murkowski’s announcement to do so was a “futile effort.” Palin endorsed, after much speculation, Joe Miller, Morkowski’s challenger. He will go on to face Scott McAdams, a Democrat and mayor of Sitka, Alaska.

The Tea Party candidates, championed by Sarah Palin, are gaining headway in the primaries with two wins over mainstream Republicans. One election, O’Donnell in Delaware, was a big win with her winning over nine-term Republican U.S. House Representative Mike Castle in the GOP Senate primary. Despite the fact that she was not endorsed by the Republican Party, she won after being endorsed by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as well as $150,000 in late funding from the Tea Party Express. She will face Democrat Christopher Coons, the New Castle County Executive, for the Senate seat that was vacated by then Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who himself was a former member of the New Castle County council, in a tough election in November.

Palin’s audience members were skeptical but optimistic, as they were part of the Iowa’s Republican establishment, a key group to winning the Iowa caucuses and gaining momentum in the path to a 2012 presidential nomination. She spoke dismissively of the Republican elites, saying that she refuses to play a “political playbook to be handed to us from on high form the political elites”.

She joked about a presidential run before putting an extra focus on the midterm elections coming up, and she didn’t make any comment on her future plans, but she didn’t discourage any speculation. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs openly mused about her visit, saying that this is the time of year that potential candidates test the waters. “It’s normally around this time of year you go to tip your toe in the water, and my guess is, President Obama about this time in 2006 did I think what would be considered a somewhat analogous event,” Gibbs indicated in his Friday briefing. “My guess is, she’s going to dip that toe.”

Palin indicated that she would run if the “American people were to be ready for someone who is willing to shake it up, and willing to get back to time-tested truths,” but she wouldn’t confirm anything definite. If she does plan on running for the presidency, she needs to get the Republican Party behind her, and that’s most likely her first priority during these midterm elections.