Sarah Palin and the Alaska Independence Party

I first saw this over on JOTMAN, and thought it deserved more discussion than I though it was getting. But apparently, the story about Sarah Palin and her association with the Alaska Independence Party has gotten a lot more play than I've realized. A Google search on sarah palin alaska independence party brings up quite a list of results.

Palin never belonged to AKIP, according to a New York Times blog linked by JOTMAN. But Lynette Clark, AKIP chairwoman, said that Palin attended their convention in 1994 and 2006, and sent a videotaped message in 2008. A link to that message is here.

Talk to Action reports that

the AIP is the Alaska affiliate of the Constitution Party, founded by Howard Phillips, and has been the political home to leading theocratic Christian Reconstructionism such as John Lofton, Otto Scott, Joe Morecraft and movement founder R.J. Rushdoony himself. It has also been the party of some of the most militant anti-abortion activists in the U.S. such as Matthew Trewhella and Ralph Ovadal of Missionaries to the Preborn and for many years Randall Terry -- until he decided to run (unsuccessfully) in a primary challenge to an incumbent Republican State Senator Jim King (who had stood up to the Religious Right during the Terri Schiavo episode.) More recently perennial GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes unsuccessfully sought the Constitution Party nomination. Currently the third largest political party in the U.S. in terms of membership, it is usually on the ballot in about 35 states.

The Detroit Free Press offers a "primer on Sarah Palin" that addresses other questions and controversies surrounding the GOP VP candidate.

It looks like Sarah Palin is Alaska's answer to Sally Kern--except, as a friend of mine put it, "she's got more power than Sally Kern ever dreamed of having."