Will Sarah Palin’s Endorsement of Joe Miller In Alaska Senate Race Matter?

Since resigning from her office in 2009, former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, has made a lot of headlines, especially for her endorsements in races from coast to coast and border to border.

One of the more peculiar endorsements she has made came Friday (August 15), when the latest Palin endorsement went to Joe Miller.

Who is Joe Miller, you may ask? Well, Joe Miller is a failed 2010 Senate candidate who is making another run at the upper branch of Congress this year.

The Palin endorsement of Miller comes despite the fact that Miller lost to a write in candidate in the 2010 election after beating her in the Republican primary. More from Fox News:

“The attorney is best known for his dramatic run for Senate in 2010.

“In that race, he defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary. But Murkowski mounted a write-in campaign in the general election, and won.”

This race isn’t looking much better for Miller, according to HuffPost Pollster, which has Miller in third place with 16.6 percent of the vote behind Dan Sullivan (37 percent) and Mead Treadwell (26.5 percent).

In her endorsement, Palin told Fox News that Miller was what was needed in Washington to fight President Barack Obama’s agenda.

“To restore liberty, to defend our Constitution, to build American exceptionalism, we must send fighters to the U.S. Senate who will stop Barack Obama’s fundamental transformation of the nation we love. The status quo has got to go, and in Alaska the man who understands this key to our state and country’s future also has the guts, wisdom, experience and optimism to fight for what is right — and win.

“We said we’d send the good guys in Washington their reinforcements, so, Alaska, here we go! Vote for Joe Miller on Tuesday and shake off the liberal stronghold so we can get on the right track.”

With Miller coming in third place in recent polling and having lost to Murkowski in 2010, does a Palin endorsement even matter on Tuesday (August 19)?

And even if Miller pulls off the upset of the century by closing the 20.4 percent gap between him and Sullivan, will he have the ability to be competitive against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November?

And if you were being endorsed by the same woman who has endorsed losing candidates like Newt Gingrich, would you feel good about that endorsement or would you politely distance yourself? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]