Bumped up, update below.
11/1/09 – Apparently third party candidate in the New Jersey race, Chris Daggett claimed on MSNBC this morning that Governor Sarah Palin, among others pressured him to drop out of the race. Governor Palin just posted on Facebook to say it didn’t happen:
Despite what candidate Chris Daggett is claiming, I have never contacted him or his campaign. I have never asked him to drop out of the NJ Governor’s race. Now, if a politician is going to play loose with facts like this, the electorate needs to know it.
So, to the good people of New Jersey, please know that Daggett’s claims are false. I’ve never even suggested he should drop out of the race. But, come to think of it…
From what I’ve seen so far she hasn’t injected herself that much into any race. She’s provided endorsements, but to suggest she’s calling up protest candidates to encourage them to drop out is pretty ridiculous. She provided an endorsement of sorts for the Republican running in the race, Chris Christie, however it seemed to be a stronger endorsement of the Republican Governors Association efforts in the New Jersey race and the Virginia Governor’s race.
Real Clear Politics shows an incredibly tight race in New Jersey. It will be interesting. Not that Daggett had much of a chance, but I’d say he just made a huge mistake. It can’t be helpful when a known political commodity such as Palin calls you out as a liar three days before the election.
Update 11/2/09: “Um… yeah I was wrong about that.” Daggett’s spokesperson told George Stephanopolus of ABC News tonight:
A Daggett spokesman acknowledges that Daggett’s claim on MSNBC was incorrect.
“She never contacted us asking us to drop out,” Daggett spokesman Tom Johnson told ABC News.
Johnson said Daggett got the incorrect impression about Palin from people on his campaign bus who themselves were mistaken and relying on an unsubstantiated blog item.
“Someone wrote mistakenly on a blog that Sarah Palin asked Chris Daggett to drop out of the race,” said Johnson.
That still doesn’t quite make sense. Daggett is getting his information from some blog about something that happened to him? Either he’s lying still or he’s a complete moron. Either way he’s not fit to be governor. (see below) You know Chris, just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true.
2nd Update: Chelsea pointed out in her comment that:
I found the blog entry where it was mentioned, and it said that Palin had posted it on Facebook, not that she had directly contacted him.
So his explanation seems plausible, though he still should have checked it out. It was still a dumb mistake.
3rd Update: Governor Palin did record a phone message for “robocalls” in the Virginia Governor’s race.