"You and I both know that Sarah Palin is a fighter who will stand up to Harry Reid and his pals in the Senate to protect our Constitution in issues like amnesty, gun control and our nation's crushing debt," Cefaratti wrote.

But the Los Angeles Times, which obtained the email, reports that Palin might not have the "clear path" to victory that the Tea Party Leadership Fund says she does. A February PPP poll had Begich's approval rating at 49 percent, and winning in a potential match-up against Palin by a margin of 54-37 percent.

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Palin also tweeted:

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The show, which features a slowly dwindling group of female impersonators fighting for RuPaul's approval, has traditionally determined eliminations and winners on the basis of its judges' whims. However, RuPaul asked viewers to show their support for finalists Roxxxy Andrews, Jinkx Monsoon, or Alaska by retweeting, commenting on Facebook and Instagram, and reblogging on Tumblr.

It's a novel way to help determine a winner -- judging won't just be based on how the queens did on the runway but how their personalities came across to those watching at home. ("Ru has not made his final decision" but will be informed by the queens' popularity, a Logo representative said via email.) And it's one that's shown results for the small cable network Logo, whose representatives boasted in an email to Salon that they had received 60,000 Facebook comments and 15,000 retweets.

"The queens have no knowledge of what’s headed their way as the season unfolds," wrote a Logo representative. "They didn’t see it coming or have prior knowledge."

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“For several months now, my wife and I have engaged in serious reflection about our family, Alaska, and the state of our nation,” Miller wrote in an email to supporters, Roll Call reports. “After consultation with our political advisers, trusted friends, and many of our 2010 volunteers, we have decided to test the waters for a 2014 US Senate run.”

He continued on his website, referencing his 2010 run: "Though I was labeled an 'extremist' by the likes of Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich for telling the truth, both of our sitting senators now routinely engage in such “extremist” rhetoric with respect to federal overreach, government spending, and entitlement reform. Yet they are still unwilling to tackle the tough issues."

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Watch:

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Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday.

"This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age," he said after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His race time in the 1,000-mile race was nine days, 7 hours and 39 minutes.

Seavey's victory came after a dueling sprint against Aliy Zirkle, last year's runner-up, along the frozen, wind-whipped Bering Sea coast. Zirkle crossed the finish line 24 minutes after her rival, who greeted her after a while.

"You did a good job," Seavey told Zirkle. "You're going to win this thing, probably more than once."

At the finish, both mushers rushed to pet their dogs, with Seavey singling out his main leader, 6-year-old Tanner, posing for photos with the dog and another leader, Taurus, wearing yellow garlands.

Zirkle's dogs wagged their tails as she praised them. "My dog team is my heart," she said.

The pair jostled for the lead, with Zirkle never more than a few miles behind, in the final stretch.

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The book, called "A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas," will be released through HarperCollins in November.

"Amidst the fragility of this politically correct era, it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored," Palin said in a statement released through HarperCollins, the Associated Press reports. "This will be a fun, festive, thought provoking book, which will encourage all to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our faith and ignore the politically correct Scrooges who would rather take Christ out of Christmas."

According to the publisher, the book will also push for "preserving Jesus Christ in Christmas - whether in public displays, school concerts (or) pageants."

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From Smart Politics:

A Smart Politics review of the more than 150 FOX broadcasts in which Sarah Palin appeared as a paid commentator from 2010 through 2012 finds that she spoke 189,221 words on air during this span, for an average pay rate of $15.85 per word.

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The New York Times reports:

It was unclear whether the parting was Ms. Palin’s choice. Bill Shine, an executive vice president at Fox, said in a statement, “We have thoroughly enjoyed our association with Governor Palin. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

As of last week, Ms. Palin remained in negotiations with Fox News about a new contract. Her original contract with the network started in January 2010 and ended this month.

Twitter, as expected, was delighted:

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Cox's sentence came down earlier this week, as part of the trial of Alaska Peacemaker Militia members, a right-wing group that was plotting to stockpile illegal weapons and take violent action against the government.

When Cox spoke of his plan in 2010, it was to Bill Fulton, an Army veteran and the owner of DropZone Security, an Anchorage, Alaska, Army surplus store that doubled as a bail bonds agency and tripled as a private security company. Fulton also happened to be working as an informant for the FBI. In an interview, Fulton described to Salon how he infiltrated the twisty world of Alaska's right-wing movement, passed along information to federal agents, and even got involved in a minor political scandal related to his security work for then-senatorial candidate Joe Miller.

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The 28-year-old defendant, who became a modern-day poster boy of sorts for the militia movement, was convicted by an Alaska jury last June of nine federal charges – seven of them illegal firearms counts — related to a conspiracy to kill a judge and law enforcement officers. He was acquitted of charges of carrying a handgun while conspiring to purchase destructive devices and possession of a handgun while discussing the murder conspiracy.

“Well, I, uh, I put myself here, with my words,” Cox told the court yesterday before he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan, the Anchorage Daily News reported in today’s editions.

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Before killing himself, the 34-year-old man, who was exposed to Christian Identity white supremacy beliefs and a survivalist lifestyle as a teenager, confessed to killing an Anchorage barista, a Vermont couple and five others he coyly didn’t identify.

The 18-year-old barista was abducted at gunpoint last February, raped and strangled by Keyes, who later dismembered her body and disposed of it in a frozen Alaska lake. Those remains were recovered after Keyes’ arrest in Texas in March.

Now, with some urgency, the FBI is piecing together a timeline of Keyes’ life while various law enforcement investigators throughout the United States are dusting off old homicide cases to see if Keyes, who traveled extensively over the past decade, may be responsible. Those cold cases which have foreign DNA evidence could be the key to identifying Keyes’ as the killer.

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Israel Keyes, 34, now linked to at least eight murders throughout the United States in the past 11 years, was a childhood friend and neighbor in Stevens County, Wash., of terrorists Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe — two racist brothers now serving lengthy prison sentences for murder and attempted murder.

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In the end, this conflict may matter more than those in Iraq and Afghanistan ever did.  And yet it’s taking place far from newspaper front pages and with hardly a notice on the nightly news.  Nor is it being fought in Yemen or Pakistan or Somalia, but in small hamlets in upstate New York.  There, a loose network of activists is waging a guerrilla campaign not with improvised explosive devices or rocket-propelled grenades, but with zoning ordinances and petitions.

The weaponry may be humdrum, but the stakes couldn’t be higher. Ultimately, the fate of the planet may hang in the balance.

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But if Sarah Palin were paying attention to the needs and best interests of her home state of Alaska, it would not be outrageous for her to endorse President Obama for reelection.  In fact, it would be entirely sensible and sane.  Ironically, most red states that vote for Republican leaders fare better economically under Democrats.  In fact, under President Obama, Alaska has fared even better than most.

Alaska received more stimulus dollars per capita than any other state in the nation.  For instance, as of August of 2010 (when the bulk of stimulus spending had been dispatched), Alaska had an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent (two points below the national average) but received $3,145 per person in federal stimulus dollars.  But Florida, with an unemployment rate at 11.4 percent got just $914 in per capita stimulus spending.  And, incidentally, Alaska is not a poor state — with oil revenues that make up 88 percent of the state’s general fund.

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The finned crooner in question is the plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus), which belongs to a family of fish known as toadfish because of their squat, slimy appearance. Midshipman fish live along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California at depths of up to 300 meters, burying themselves in the mud during the day and surfacing at night to feed. Their name is attributable to the hundreds of luminous spots called photophores that decorate their underbellies, which are somewhat reminiscent of the buttons on a naval officer’s uniform. The fish likely use these bioluminescent dots to attract small prey such as krill and to hide from predators by masking their own shadows with a camouflage technique known as counter-illumination.

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