Palin Endorses Tea Partier Over Alaska Senator

Sarah Palin thumbed her nose at Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski last night, with a Facebook endorsement of her tea party-backed primary opponent Joe Miller—a guy who recently failed to win a state Senate seat. Palin called Miller a “true Commonsense Constitutional Conservative,” willing to take on the status quo. “Unfortunately, Lisa Murkowski and much of the political establishment have recently evolved into being a bigger part of the big government problem in Washington.”

But that kind of smack talk isn't too surprising given the history of bad blood between Palin and Murkowski, the Huffington Post observes. Palin beat Murkowski's father in her 2006 gubernatorial bid, pledging to break up the family's stranglehold on power. When Palin resigned that job, Murkowski accused her of abandoning Alaska, and warned her not to run for her Senate seat. Palin's SarahPAC made a donation to Murkowski's campaign to assure her that she would not. (More Sarah Palin stories.)