Sarah Palin for president? No, says Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski

Sen. Lisa Murkowski fired the latest shot in a bitter political rivalry with the state’s former governor, saying Sarah Palin doesn’t have the “intellectual curiosity” needed to be president.

It also was likely no coincidence that Murkowski’s made the comment during an interview with “ CBS Evening News” host Katie Couric, whose 2008 interviews with then-vice presidential nominee Palin did much to color the nation’s perception.

Murkowski said her relationship with Palin had been “very professional” during Palin’s governorship but that they had rarely spoken since.

Asked what role Palin was best suited for today, the Alaska senator said Palin had “an ability to connect with people that is really quite remarkable.”

“But she would not be my choice for president,” Murkowski told Couric. “I just do not think that she has those leadership qualities, that intellectual curiosity that allows for building good and great policies.”

Murkowski said she felt that Palin, during her brief governorship, did not enjoy “governing.”

“I don’t think she liked to get down into the policy. I want somebody that goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning thinking about how we’re going to deal with our national security issues, how we’re going to deal with our economy, how we’re going to deal with providing better education or peace in the Middle East.”

The Murkowski-Palin feud dates back to 2002, when then-Sen. Frank Murkowski was elected governor. After taking his new office, he considered a range of candidates — including Palin — as appointees to his former seat. But he ultimately chose his daughter.

In 2006, Palin challenged the elder Murkowski as he sought reelection, crushing him in the primary and going on to win the seat in November. After she returned to the state following the 2008 campaign, some speculated she would challenge Lisa Murkowski when Murkowski sought reelection in 2010, but Palin announced she would not, even cutting a check to Murkowski’s campaign.

When Palin stunned the political world in 2009 by announcing her resignation, Murkowski issued a stern statement saying she was “disappointed” the governor had chosen to “abandon” the state. In 2010, Palin announced she was backing a different GOP challenger to Murkowski, Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller.

Miller defeated Murkowski in the August Republican primary, but Murkowski fought on with a write-in campaign. An ongoing tally of general-election ballots now finds the eight-year incumbent with a lead over Miller, though he is challenging enough ballots that his campaign says could overturn the result.

Palin has said little about the outcome of the Senate race since election day, other than to rally support for Miller. But she has been promoting her new TLC reality show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” which drew 5 million viewers for its debut showing Sunday.

Critics see the program as laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign, something Palin seemed to admit during an interview with Fox Business Network on Monday.

Discussing a clip from the show in which she marveled at what “humankind” could learn from grizzly bears, Palin said: “I’m sending some messages out there. … The mama grizzlies are taking care of their cubs to make sure that the species can continue. But, no, everybody is expected to help themselves in order to perpetuate the species.”

Palin was also asked, again, about whether she’d run for president in 2012.

“I do not know, but I’m certainly going to take a good lay of the land, look and see if there are others out there who are electable, who are willing to make the tough decisions, won’t care what the heck the media says about them,” she said. “If there are others out there willing to do that and make the sacrifices, I’ll support them. If there’s nobody else, I will do it.”

Don’t expect Murkowski to support her if she does.

mmemoli@tribune.com

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