Lots of people e-mailing about this. I feel like I’m fishing and I’ve suddenly landed a blue marlin on the line; it’s too powerful for me to handle. I’m not sure I can even get the damned thing into the boat, so heavy is it with comment potential.

Seriously, there’s no way a political star like Palin would lose her own very Republican home state to The One. Unemployment would have to be at one percent.

The poll found 42 percent of Alaskan voters would pick Obama in a head to head race against Palin for the presidency, while 36 percent of the voters would choose Palin over him.

Conservative Anchorage radio host Mike Porcaro paid for Hays Research to ask the question.

“Sarah Palin showcases her Alaska roots at every opportunity, but the surprising reality is she has become highly unpopular in her home state,” Porcaro said in an emailed statement.

“Whether it is the fact she left office after serving barely two years or that some Alaskans believe her tax policies have punished our vital oil and gas industry or the ‘rock star’ nature of her media coverage, these results show Sarah Palin would lose to Obama in Alaska, where voters overwhelmingly support conservative candidates,” Porcaro said.

Alaskans have been voting in presidential elections since 1960. They’ve backed the Republican every single time except once — in 1964, when they supported, er, a welfare-state liberal Democrat over a “true conservative” Republican. The poll, incidentally, was conducted by Hays Research, whose final poll of the 2008 presidential campaign put John McCain just three points ahead of Obama in Alaska notwithstanding Palin’s presence on the ticket. The actual result on election day: McCain 59, Obama 38. In other words, Hays isn’t worth much. (But they’re worth just enough that you can use them in a pinch to offset other polls whose results you may not like.)

Meanwhile, at tonight’s movie premiere in Iowa, she sure is sounding like a candidate:

Though she indicated that she is still not close to announcing her decision on whether she will run for president, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday said that she would fully commit to the traditional process leading up to the Iowa caucuses, if she does through her hat in the ring.

“110 percent,” Palin told RealClearPolitics before entering the premiere of a documentary that extols her accomplishments in office. “Doing as much as I can to garner that support. It’s necessary.”…

Asked about her daughter Bristol’s pronouncement during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday morning that her mother “definitely knows” whether she intends to launch a White House bid, Palin said that she texted Bristol after hearing about the remark.

“I said, ‘What did you say this morning, honey?'” Palin said with a smile. “I told Bristol, too, what is talked about on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat.”

Exit question: If it did come down to Obama vs. Palin, which side would our old friend Lena Maloney campaign for?

Update: Ah, another bad poll from the Hays people via one of the C4P bloggers. Late last October, they had Joe Miller trailing Democrat Scott McAdams by six points for second place behind Murkowski. Election day results: Murky 39, Miller 35, McAdams 23.