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• Monday, September 15, 2008 08:17 AM

  Google it

  Anyone ever been to Wasilla, Alaska? Google the town's name and the word "churches." You'll see more than 700 of them appear across the map, click after click. This for a town with a population around 10,000, while Anchorage, the largest city in the state, has just under 900 churches for more than 250,000 people (same Google query).

  Am I against churches? Hardly.

  But the ratio is telling. It shows how to get elected in Wasilla and beyond in a state with fewer than 700,000 people. You appeal to church-folk and introduce cultural wedge issues like abortion and gun control in a city election. You add a dash of fiscal conservatism once elected. Then you eat one of your own party leaders after you've used him and pulled in nice federal earmark dollars for the home voting crowd. You keep the minor-league Alaska news media smitten with your reformist image (hire them, too, as part of your PR team). You leverage into a statewide platform where the Republican party is king and will back you financially. (Check public election finance records.)

  Then you don't blink when an aging Arizona U.S. Senator comes calling who needs the to shore up and energize his party's base. Last, you try to avoid the liberal media hell-bent on twisting the truth about your depth and record so they can support an opponent who is uppity and untested.

  Only in America.

  Small towns aren't the backbone of America. They are small towns.

  —so cal Read so cal's other letters
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