Sarah Palin Endorses John Raese For Senate In West Virginia

October 11, 2010 5:33 PM

ABC’s Michael Falcone reports:

Sarah Palin weighed in on one of the most competitive races in the country on Monday, throwing her support behind Republican businessman John Raese in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia.

"The last thing Washington, DC needs is another rubber-stamp vote for President Obama and the liberal agenda," Palin said in a message posted on her Facebook page. "John Raese has the courage and independence to stand up to the Washington politics of Reid and Pelosi."

Palin's contention that Raese's Democratic opponent, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin would be a "rubber stamp" for Obama echoes a frequently-used GOP talking point in the Senate contest. Raese has used the same language on the campaign trail and in his television ads.

Once the presumed front runner, Manchin, is struggling in the match up against Raese, who has attempted to tie the popular governor to the president at every turn.

The Palin endorsement comes on the same day that former President Bill Clinton traveled to West Virginia to campaign on behalf of Manchin. "Don't let this guy play you," Clinton said of Raese, who recently came under fire for campaign ads that sought to portray West Virginia residents as “hicky.”

In her Facebook post on Monday Palin wrote that after "another great week of travel across our country" she is seeing a growing "commonsense grassroots movement" taking root -- one that she is helping to seed. In addition to Raese, Palin endorsed eight Republican House candidates from Michigan, Virginia, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi and Utah.