Palin, GOP leaders to campaign for Miller in Alaska Senate race

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and several conservative GOP leaders are expected to appear at a campaign rally for Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller on Thursday. 

The event is scheduled to be Palin's first appearance for Miller — a Gulf War veteran and attorney — on the campaign trail. The ex-governor endorsed Miller in June when he was a relatively unknown Tea Party candidate challenging incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), with whom she has a fierce rivalry.

According to a description of the event — called the "Change D.C." rally — posted on Miller's campaign site, both Sarah and Todd Palin are expected to headline. It's scheduled to be held at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage.

Among the other conservative leaders appearing via video are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

Miller is locked in a tight race with Murkowski, who decided to stay in the race as an independent write-in candidate, and Democrat Scott McAdams. The move riled Republicans in Washington and conservative Alaska voters who supported Miller in the GOP primary; Murkowski was stripped of her leadership post. 

But Miller's campaign has been snagged in part by his admission that he used Fairbanks North Star Borough computers for political purposes when he was a borough lawyer. He admitted to lying about it in a 2008 e-mail.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has not made a public appearance with Miller since the primary, but she has defended him on national cable television and through her popular Facebook page. Palin has sent out a fundraising appeal for Miller. 

Palin's feud with Murkowski dates back to 2006, when she successfully defeated her father, former Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, in a primary. The defeated Murkowski also appointed his daughter to her Senate seat.

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