Palin Adds Another Mama Grizzly to Her Den

Sarah Palin, not to be deterred by the mixed reception New Hampshire voters gave her endorsement of GOP senate candidate Kelly Ayotte, is back on the campaign trail — digitally speaking, at least. Last night her Facebook page indicated that she’s named Wyoming State Auditor Rita Meyer her latest “mama grizzly,” endorsing Meyer’s bid for governor among a crowded field of GOP candidates in the August 17 primary election.

Wyoming, a Republican stronghold that has voted just once for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1952, has nonetheless had a popular Democratic governor, Dave Freudenthal, for the last two terms. His retirement — and the lack of a clear Democratic successor — make the seat quite likely to fall into Republican hands in the fall, however.

As for Palin, Chris Cillizza at The Fix notes that her endorsements are now following a rather familiar pattern:

[G]et behind a female candidate with a few weeks remaining in a crowded primary fight in hopes of using her conservative star power (and the media attention her endorsement creates) to catapult her chosen candidate to victory.

While it’s hard to credit a single endorsement with delivering a race for a candidate, it is clear that Palin’s support for former Hewlett Packard executive Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race, state Rep. Nikki Haley in the South Carolina governor’s contest and former Secretary of State Karen Handel in the Georgia governor’s race helped each of the women at the polls.

Sarah Palin has endorsed a remarkable number of women in Republican primaries this election cycle, but thanks the Washington Post’s nifty new Palin “Endorsement tracker,” I can say that she’s ultimately endorsed more men than women. The Post’s tables also indicate she’s been more traditionally conservative in her endorsement choices than one might imagine, spreading the love evenly among “Tea Party” and “establishment” candidates across the country.