Sarah Palin Endorses Jeff Flake; No Word on Flake Seeing Mexico From His Backyard

Former Alaska Governor and Vice President runner-up Sarah Palin says Congressman Jeff Flake should be the next U.S. Senator from Arizona.

The gaffe-prone ex-governor — who briefly wanted to “stand with our North Korean allies” and sparked concerns about the “Department of Law” — says Flake’s the kind of guy who can…(sigh)…”go rogue.”

“Credited by many as the leading anti-earmark crusader in the House, Jeff has fought hard against pork barrel spending — often times casting one of the few GOP ‘no’ votes on bloated spending measures,” Palin says in an overly-prepared letter. “He’s not afraid to ‘go rogue’ against his own party and its leadership; and even though he has sometimes suffered the consequences from GOP leaders for failing to toe the party line, yet he continues to fight for what is right.”

Flake claims to be pleased with Palin’s endorsement.

“I am very gratified to receive the support of Governor Palin today,” his statement says. “Governor Palin is a passionate conservative who has inspired many in the cause to reform Washington.”

At one point, it was rumored that Palin would try to take over the Senate seat herself, which is being vacated by Senator Jon Kyl.

The sometimes-Scottsdale resident’s run for president, which never materialized, was also supposed to be based out of Arizona.

Palin’s endorsement probably isn’t a surprise, since her running mate in 2008 — Senator John McCain — recently endorsed Flake, as did Kyl.

As for Flake’s primary opponent, Wil Cardon, his list of big-name endorsements currently includes Congressman Trent Franks and — nope, that’s it.

Meanwhile, a pair of candidates running for Congress have received the endorsements of people who were actually elected to the White House, as CD9 Republican Vernon Parker scored the endorsement of George H.W. Bush, and CD9 Democrat Andrei Cherny got the stamp of approval from Bill Clinton.