阿拉斯加的朱诺-共和政体的萨拉·佩林在辞去州长职务并希望赢得该州的美国众议院席位后，十多年来重新出现在阿拉斯加政坛。她有很多优势:无可匹敌的知名度，前总统的支持唐纳德·特朗普在这个州，他两次当选，这是吸引全国媒体关注的无与伦比的能力。

但她努力赢得选民的支持，其中一些人对她2009年的辞职感到失望，批评者认为，她对一名州党领导人支持的共和党人和一名突破性的民主党人进行了一场平淡无奇的竞选，这名民主党人自称是一名普通的阿拉斯加人，并以“鱼、家庭和自由”为平台。

佩林失去了两个选举共和党人唐·杨(Don Young)在3月份去世前占据了众议院席位49年——8月份的特别投票将决定谁将在他的剩余任期内任职，11月8日的大选将完成两年的任期。11月8日的选举结果于周三公布。这两个排名选择票都是由民主党人玛丽·佩尔托拉赢得的，她是尤比克人，她在特别选举中获胜，成为第一位在国会任职的阿拉斯加土著人。

前州议员Peltola避免了佩林和共和党人Nick Begich之间的抨击，后者将前州长描绘成一个懦夫和自我推销者。佩林暗示，比佩林早几个月于去年秋天参加竞选的贝吉奇，来自一个著名的民主党人家庭，是一个从她那里吸走选票的“植物”。尽管如此，两人还是鼓励在本月大选前采取“红色评级”策略，希望为共和党夺回席位。大选还包括一名远远落后的自由主义者。

吉姆·洛茨费尔特(Jim Lottsfeldt)是一名政治顾问，隶属于一个支持佩尔托拉的超级政治行动委员会(super PAC)，他说，对许多人来说，选举看起来像是共和党人的“轻松上篮”。

他说，2008年共和党副总统候选人佩林本可以和他们一起“逃跑”，但似乎并不专注。他列举了佩林在阿拉斯加以外的旅行，包括大选前几天去纽约的一次旅行，以及家里的“愚蠢”活动，包括一个由政治行动委员会举办的活动，该委员会很少参加，并由詹姆斯·布朗表演。

洛茨费尔特说，随着这些损失，一度保守的感觉变成了“旧闻”

共和党策略师布拉德·托德说，佩林“拥有特朗普总统出现之前特朗普总统拥有的许多特征。现在有很多特朗普总统的模仿者。”他说，这对像佩林这样的人来说是一个挑战，她“比12、14年前有了更多的同伴。”

托德说:“一个挑战，特朗普总统也将面临这个挑战，就是如果你想成为那种被派去打大仗的雇佣军，你需要赢。”

但他说，共和党内常见的“反精英方言”对佩林来说很自然，两次选举失败不会“阻止她成为一些人非常强大的代理人，如果她想的话。”

佩林自选举以来一直承诺支持旨在废除阿拉斯加选民在2020年批准的一项制度的努力，该制度以公开初选取代了党内初选，并在大选中实行了排名选择投票。今年的选举是在这种制度下举行的第一次选举，佩林在第一次投票之前就开始抨击这种制度。

废除该法案的领导人阿特·马蒂亚斯说，佩林拥有“庞大的观众群”，在推动这项法案的努力中具有“不可估量的价值”。

佩林在选举日告诉记者，她不确定如果她输了，两年后她会做什么，但她说“我的心为阿拉斯加人服务。”她还表示，她希望与国会议员讨论她可以做些什么，即使是在当选的办公室之外，“以帮助确保美国人可以信任政府正在发生的事情。”

这些评论与她在2009年辞去州长职务时的评论相似。佩林将她下台的决定归因于公共记录要求和道德投诉，她说这些已经成为干扰。

佩林是她的家乡瓦西拉的前市长，在2008年以其平易近人的举止和风趣的俏皮话登上全国舞台后，在保守派政治中引起了轰动。她写了书，巡回演讲，出现在电视真人秀节目中，花时间为福克斯新闻频道撰稿，并成立了一个政治行动委员会，该委员会后来解散了。

尽管在离开州长办公室后，佩林基本上没有参与阿拉斯加的政治，但她是特朗普2016年竞选的早期支持者，今年因对《纽约时报》提起不成功的诉讼而成为头条新闻。

在6月份的一次采访中，她对批评她已经离开阿拉斯加的说法表示愤怒，她说她住在这个州，在这里抚养她的孩子，并且“如此阿拉斯加”，她最近在开车时撞了一头驼鹿。

佩林一直通过Cameo制作视频，这是一个人们可以付费购买名人个性化信息的网站。她的广告售价为199美元。

佩林在众议院竞选期间恢复了她2008年的口头禅，“钻吧，宝贝，钻吧”，呼吁增加石油产量，虽然她和佩尔托拉很友好，但佩林认为排名投票系统“产生了将民主党人送到国会代表阿拉斯加的滑稽效果，阿拉斯加是美国最红的州之一。”

安德鲁·哈尔克罗(Andrew Halcro)是前共和党州议员，他与佩林竞选州长，是6月份众议院特别初选的48名候选人之一，他说，他不认为佩林“真正理解和认识到不喜欢她的选民比例很高。”他补充说，佩林没有采取措施赢得他们的支持或吸引贝吉奇的支持者。

贝吉奇是继自由主义者之后第二个在大选中被淘汰的候选人。当贝吉奇的64，392张选票在排名选择投票制表过程中转移时，只有43，000多张选票流向了佩林，但大约21，500名他的选民没有选择第二个选择或投票给佩尔托拉，后者以55%的选票击败了佩林。

但是哈尔克罗说，他没有看到佩林从舞台上消失。

“我的问题是，什么时候像佩林或特朗普这样的人在失败后离开过?…他们只是提高了他们的言辞，”他说。

Next act for Palin unclear after Alaska House losses

JUNEAU, Alaska --RepublicanSarah Palinre-emerged in Alaska politics over a decade after resigning as governor with hopes of winning the state’s U.S. House seat. She had a lot going for her: unbeatable name recognition, the backing of former PresidentDonald Trumpin a state he carried twice, an unrivaled ability to attract national media attention.

But she struggled to catch fire with voters, some of whom were put off by her 2009 resignation, and ran what critics saw as a lackluster campaign against a Republican endorsed by state party leaders and a breakout Democrat who pitched herself as a regular Alaskan and ran on a platform of “fish, family and freedom.”

Palin lost twoelections for the House seat Republican Don Young held for 49 years before his death in March — an August special ballot to determine who would serve the remainder of his term and the Nov. 8 general election for a full two-year term. Results of the Nov. 8 election were announced Wednesday. Both ranked-choice votes were won by Democrat Mary Peltola, who is Yup’ik and with her win in the special election became the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.

Peltola, a former state lawmaker, avoided the sniping between Palin and Republican Nick Begich, who cast the former governor as a quitter and self-promoter. Palin suggested that Begich, who entered the race last fall, months before Palin, and is from a family of prominent Democrats, was a “plant” siphoning votes from her. The two nonetheless encouraged a “rank the red” strategy ahead of this month’s election in hopes of recapturing the seat for the GOP. The general election also included a Libertarian who lagged far behind.

Jim Lottsfeldt, a political consultant affiliated with a super PAC that supported Peltola, said the elections to many looked like “easy layups” for Republicans.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, could have “run away” with them but didn’t seem focused, he said. He cited as missteps Palin's trips outside Alaska, including one to New York days before the general election, and “goofy” events at home, including one put on by a political action committee that was sparsely attended and featured a James Brown tribute performer.

With the losses, Lottsfeldt said, the one-time conservative sensation becomes “sort of old news.”

Republican strategist Brad Todd said Palin “had a lot of the characteristics that President Trump had before President Trump came along. And now there are plenty of imitators of President Trump.” He said that poses a challenge for someone like Palin, who has "a lot more company in her lane than she had 12, 14 years ago.”

“One challenge, and President Trump will have this challenge as well, is if you're going to be the sort of like mercenary sent to fight big battles, you need to win,” Todd said.

But he said the “anti-elite vernacular” common in the Republican party comes naturally to Palin, and two election losses won't “stop her from being a very powerful surrogate for some people if she wants to."

Palin has pledged support since the election for an effort aimed at repealing a system approved by Alaska voters in 2020 that replaced party primaries with open primaries and instituted ranked-choice voting in general elections. This year's elections were the first held under the system, which Palin began railing against before the first votes were cast.

Art Mathias, a leader of the repeal effort, said Palin has a “huge audience” and will be “invaluable” in efforts to advance it.

Palin told reporters on Election Day she wasn’t sure what she would be doing in two years if she lost but said “my heart is in service to Alaskans.” She also said she wanted to talk with members of Congress about what she could do, even outside elected office, “to help ensure that Americans can trust what’s going on in government.”

The comments were similar to those she made in 2009 when she resigned as governor. Palin attributed her decision to step down to public records requests and ethics complaints that she said had become distractions.

Palin, a former mayor of her hometown Wasilla, made a splash in conservative politics after bursting onto the national stage in 2008 with her folksy demeanor and zingy one-liners. She wrote books, hit the speaking circuit, appeared on reality television programs, spent time as a Fox News contributor and formed a political action committee that has since disbanded.

While she largely stayed out of Alaska politics after leaving the governor’s office, Palin was an early supporter of Trump’s 2016 run and made headlines this year with an unsuccessful lawsuit against The New York Times.

In a June interview she bristled at critics suggestions she had left Alaska behind, saying she lives in the state, has raised her kids here and is “so Alaskan” she had recently hit a moose while driving.

Palin has been making videos through Cameo, a site where people can pay for personalized messages from celebrities. Hers are advertised at $199.

Palin revived her 2008 mantra, “Drill, baby, drill,” during the House race in calling for more oil production, and while she and Peltola were friendly, Palin argued the ranked voting system had “produced the travesty of sending a Democrat to Congress to represent Alaska, one of the reddest states in the country.”

Andrew Halcro, a former Republican state lawmaker who ran for governor against Palin and was among the 48 candidates in the House special primary in June, said he doesn’t think Palin “really understood and recognized the high percentage of voters who just don’t like her.” Palin didn’t take steps to win them over or to attract Begich supporters, he added.

Begich was the second candidate eliminated in the general election after the Libertarian. When Begich's 64,392 votes were transferred in the ranked choice voting tabulation process, just over 43,000 went to Palin but about 21,500 of his voters didn't pick a second choice or gave their vote to Peltola, who defeated Palin with 55% of the vote.

But Halcro said he doesn’t see Palin disappearing from the stage.

“My question is, when have people like Palin or Trump ever walked away after they’ve lost? … They’ve just ratcheted up their rhetoric,” he said.