The battle for Alaska: Murkowski vs. Palin

Palin, who took the governor’s mansion from Murkowski’s father only to prematurely relinquish it last year, finds Murkowski lacking. Despite Murkowski’s “mama grizzly” cred as a mother of two teenage boys and the state’s most prominent female official, Palin upset the Republican establishment in June by instead endorsing Joe Miller, a stubble-cheeked and baritone-voiced conservative who is good buds with her husband, Todd.

“It strikes me as odd,” Murkowski said.

The endorsement has complicated the race for Murkowski but has also created an opportunity for clarity. After political observers have spent months scouring races nationwide for evidence of Palin’s right-wing reach vs. the staying power of bring-home-the-bacon Republicans like Murkowski, it turns out that the ideal testing ground may be the women’s own Alaskan back yard…

Murkowski defended, however, Palin’s right to weigh in, saying that if Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and other presidential hopefuls were not criticized for “thinking ahead” by strategically bestowing endorsements and PAC money, Palin shouldn’t be, either. “I don’t think that we should suggest that her motives are any different from anybody else who is looking to do something more.”