Outside Alaska, Palin Favors Third-Party Run

By Julie Sobel  //  August 22, 2012 | 1:12 p.m.

Two years ago, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not too excited about Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, losing the GOP primary and then running in the general election. On Tuesday, she advocated for vanquished Missouri Senate candidate Sarah Steelman to do just that if Todd Akin declines to step aside.

In August 2010, Murkowski lost her GOP primary to tea party-favored candidate Joe Miller, who the Palins supported. In September, she decided to run in the general election anyway, mounting a write-in candidacy. Palin was not thrilled, tweeting that the senator should "respect" the will of the primary voters who chose Miller. "Listen to the people, respect their will," she wrote after Murkowski's decision to run as a write-in candidate. "Voters chose Joe instead."

And in an October Facebook post titled "Lisa's Gall vs. Miller's Honor," Palin wrote: "Though Joe decisively defeated the incumbent Senator in the primary, and though she conceded the race to him, she reneged on her primary vow to not contest the will of the people."

Appearing Tuesday night on Fox's "On The Record" with Greta Van Susteren, Palin called for Akin to step aside -- but said that if he doesn't, her favored candidate in the primary should mount a third-party candidacy. Palin said that "maybe it is a third-party run of Sarah Steelman that I can get behind, and, granted 'The Status Quo Has Got To Go' would be an odd name for a third party, but we'll coin it, adopt it, run with it if that's what it takes." "He has until September 25th to do it (drop out)," she added. "If he doesn't do it, then it will be third party then."

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