Palin endorses tea party-backed O’Donnell in contentious Delaware Senate primary

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Palin backing O’Donnell campaign

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin on Thursday endorsed Christine O’Donnell’s Senate bid in Delaware, hoping to give another tea party-backed candidate a final push to defeat an establishment favorite.

The former Alaska governor announced the endorsement on radio host Sean Hannity’s program and on her Facebook page.

“Please support Christine O’Donnell in Delaware,” Palin wrote to her supporters on Facebook. “She will support efforts for America’s energy security, patient-centered health care reform, cutting government waste and letting the private sector thrive and prosper!”

The endorsement could provide a major boost for O’Donnell, locked in a bitter primary against Rep. Mike Castle but short on campaign cash. While the Tea Party Express has pledged $250,000 to help O’Donnell, her campaign financial reports filed on Aug. 25 show she raised about $260,000 total for her bid and had about $20,000 in the campaign bank account.

Castle, a nine-term member of Congress and a two-term governor, raised $3.2 million and had $2.6 million cash on hand. He is one of Washington’s top recruits this election cycle and was presumed to be the strongest to face Democratic county executive Chris Coons in November.

In her unusually brief message on Facebook, Palin hinted at Castle’s long tenure in government.

“We can’t afford ‘more of the same’ in Washington,” she wrote. “Christine will help usher in the real change we need to get America on the right track.”

The Delaware Republican Party, which is backing Castle, on Thursday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing O’Donnell and the Tea Party Express of violating FEC rules that restrict coordination between candidates and outside political organizations. The complaint, filed for the party by campaign finance lawyer and former FEC chairman Michael Toner, states that the Tea Party Express solicited donors to contribute to O’Donnell and that O’Donnell and the group worked jointly on advertising, breaching FEC regulations.

It is but the latest attack from state Republican officials, who have called O’Donnell a liar who has trouble paying her bills, misuses campaign funds and had made false statements about her education and the support she received in previous Senate campaigns.

“I wish Sarah Palin would have just picked up the phone and called us,” said Delaware Republican Party chairman Tom Ross, who is backing Castle.

“We could have had a very frank discussion about the quality of Christine’s candidacy and the lack of honesty that’s been displayed here in the last several weeks,” he said.

Palin, the Republicans’ 2008 vice presidential nominee, has become a coveted endorsement. Her backing of Joe Miller in their shared home state helped defeat GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska GOP primary.

Castle’s campaign dismissed the backing.

“Tuesday’s primary will be decided by grassroots Republican voters here in Delaware, not out-of-state interest groups who are working to control the outcome,” spokeswoman Kate Dickens said. “Mike Castle has overwhelming support from respected conservative Delawareans, including former Gov. Pete DuPont and Judge Bill Lee, who know that Castle is the true fiscal conservative and the only candidate who can win this seat for Republicans in November.”

Associated Press writer Randall Chase in Dover, Del., contributed to this report.