Palin predicts ‘political earthquake’ on Tuesday

Sarah Palin said Sunday that Americans will deliver a blunt message to President Obama in the midterms: “You blew it.”

During an appearance Sunday on Fox News, Palin predicted a “political earthquake” on Tuesday as Americans demand a “smaller, smarter” government. And while most of voter anger will be directed at Democrats, the former Alaska governor said all “establishment politicians” will be put on notice.

“Those in the establishment have had opportunity to make sure that the government was going to rein itself in and let the private sector grow and thrive and prosper, as it should,” she said. “So those within the establishment who have kind of perpetuated the problem by going along just to get along, including some who’ve been wishy-washy on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda -- the message sent to them is no more.”

It was a message shared on Sunday talk shows by other Republicans. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), chair of the Republican Governors Assn., noted how many Democratic candidates have shunned Obama in the difficult campaign.

“If Republicans win, it will be a repudiation of Obama’s policies,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Barbour has been working to support GOP candidates through the RGA, but Palin has been a political wild card in endorsing dozens of candidates, including many underdogs and many who challenged fellow Republicans in the primary.

In cases such as Delaware, where “tea party” favorite Christine O’Donnell upset Republican Mike Castle in the primary but appears headed to defeat on Tuesday, Palin said her effort was worth it to send a message.

“Who was going to guarantee that Castle was going to win anyway?” she said. “It’s a liberal state. So given the choice, yeah, give it the old college try and allow the conservative in the race to have the message, the voice heard.”

Palin again indicated an openness to running for president in 2012, and said a decision would be based in part on whether there was another like-minded Republican in the field.

“I love the freedom that I have, that I can sit here and I can tell you anything that I want to tell you and not have to worry so much about how it will affect my future political career,” she said. But, “the country is worth it. … If the country needed me -- and I’m not saying that the country does and that the country would ever necessarily want to choose me over anyone else, but I would be willing to make the sacrifices if need be for America.”

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