Sarah Palin Shucks Outsider Role to Help Republican Committee Raise Dough

Tom Diemer

Correspondent

Posted:

08/7/10

Sarah Palin isn't always outside the political mainstream. She made an early departure as governor of Alaska for a free-lance career as cable TV commentator, public speaker and candidate-endorser. But she still knows how to play the inside game. Palin is helping the Republican National Committee -- the party's organizational and fund-raising arm -- collect contributions for the midterm elections.

She has attached her name to a solicitation letter and survey going out to RNC donors under Victory 2010 -- a get-out-vote program, according to CNN which got a copy of the missive. "Millions of Americans are expressing frustration with the state of our government. I join them and seek to return our country to greatness," the letter says. "To accomplish this, working within our two-party system, I join the RNC -- the political home for "Commonsense Conservatives who want to re-take governance -- and I ask you to join me."

Sarah Palin Palin's relationship with the national committee has sometimes been rocky since she returned to Alaska after her 2008 campaign for vice president. She backed out of a Washington fund-raising dinner for Senate and House candidates in March 2009, and earlier this year asked for her name to be taken off the guest list on an invitation to a money-raising event in New Orleans.

Getting Palin on board could help the national party bolster its standing with conservatives, unhappy with RNC Chairman Michael Steele's missteps, CNN said.

But the Palin touch didn't work for one candidate in Thursday's Tennessee Republican primary. Nashville entertainment lawyer Cece Heil, endorsed by Palin as a "Mama Grizzly," who would "fight tirelessly to protect our freedoms," finished third in the GOP primary for the 5th District House seat. The winner, businessman Jim Hall, will face Rep. Jim Cooper, (D-Tenn.), in November.