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You've Changed, Sarah, and So Have We
Alaska struggles to recognize returning guv, and vice versa
By Gabriel Winant
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Posted Nov 7, 08 9:50 AM CST
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(Newser)
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The Alaska Sarah Palin comes home to isn’t the same as the one she left, reports the LA Times. The governor's approval ratings have plunged—from 80% to a “mere mortal 65%”—but not as steeply as the price of oil, which makes up most of the state's revenues. Palin, now seen as a strident partisan rather than a pragmatist, may also have a harder time striking the necessary compromises, with opponents emboldened by the GOP collapse.
The state may be about to lose the pipeline for federal funds long provided by the powerful veteran Sen. Ted Stevens, who faces the likelihood of Senate rejection if he squeaks out his reelection bid, in the wake of conviction on corruption charges. And the governor clearly has her eye on a bigger stage. “She's obviously been bitten,” says a former state official “She's seen Paris, you know?”