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Handel helped by the next Sarah Palin

July 5, 2010 —

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel got a boost from the next Sarah Palin, which may have helped her vault into a tie for first with State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine in the Republican Primary for governor.  It is further evidence of the year of the woman candidate. 

In a relatively low-key race with more emphasis on competence and experience than bomb-throwing epithets like we've seen in races from other states, Handel may have received the biggest news of any candidate in either primary.  She picked up an endorsement from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. 

It's amazing to think that before this year, the vast majority of the country had never heard of Brewer.  Earlier this Spring, she wasn't even the leading candidate to continue as Arizona Governor, barely a percentage point ahead of the third place candidate, a shooting range owner named "Buzz."  But Brewer made her own buzz with a controversial immigration bill, which is wildly popular among Republicans. 

Now with her polls showing she tripled in approval ratings by signing the bill, she's free to roam the country, a Sarah Palin of sorts, making her influence felt beyond the state.  Just as Palin may have picked Nikki Haley in South Carolina, Brewer hopes to play kingmaker, or queenmaker, here in Georgia with her endorsement of Handel. 

The results are in.  As reported by InsiderAdvantageGeorgia's Dick Pettys, Handel has vaulted from a statistical tie for second with ex-Congressman Nathan Deal to a first place tie with Oxendine in an IA poll commissioned by WSB-TV in Atlanta.  And, as Ia CEO Matt Towery points out in Pettys' article, Oxendine's ads seem to be falling flat with the voters. 

So did Brewer pick Handel because she's a woman?  After all, each of the Republican candidates has made some sort of tough talk about immigration.  But I don't think so.  After all, Handel is hardly a "Joanie-Come-Lately" to the immigration debate.  Many remember her strict Voter ID policy which was designed to keep illegal immigrants from voting.   

"Allowing non-Americans to vote is simply un-American," Handel said in a Dalton Daily Citizen article.  The fact that the ex-Secretary of State has been in a series of courtroom battles with the Justice Department over the policy only enhanced her credibility with the anti-illegal immigration Governor Brewer in the way that a promised policy or vote on a bill could never provide. 

The Brewer pick also overshadowed an endorsement Deal (who is third in the poll) received from Cobb County teachers, as well as former state Senate Majority Leader Eric Johnson's (who is fourth in the poll) new ad buys, which highlight his anti-tax record. 

Yet the WSB-TV poll shows, nearly a third of GOP voters are still undecided.  There's still time for someone, maybe even Sarah Palin, to make an endorsement that would be a game changer.  But heading into the July 20 primary and likely runoff, Handel has momentum.