Most SarahPAC recipients voted for debt limit increase

The Ticket

Sarah Palin last week publicly threatened tea party freshmen with 2012 primary challenges ahead of their votes to raise the debt limit. But by then, SarahPAC, the former Alaska governor's political action committee, had already doled out 2012 primary funds to a handful of SarahPAC's favorite lawmakers.

So here at The Ticket we were curious who, if any, of the 2011 SarahPAC recipients did vote to raise the debt limit and potentially left themselves open to feel Palin's wrath in next year's primaries.

And there were many.

Sens. Bob Corker Tennessee and Roger Wicker of Mississippi both voted for the compromise and had already received $5,000 donations from SarahPAC this year. So did Reps. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, Larry Bucshon of Indiana, Francisco "Quico" Canseco of Texas, Mike Coffman of Colorado (whose check was not designated for his 2012 race, but was instead donated to help retire his 2008 debt), Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Allen West of Florida.

But three Republicans who received SarahPAC donations voted against raising the debt ceiling: Reps. Ann Marie Buerkle of New York, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri and Martha Roby of Alabama.

All of the lawmakers listed above-- including the two senators--are up for re-election in 2012. And it now appears likely that Palin is unhappy with many of those no-voters.

Palin appeared on Fox News' Sean Hannity show last night and blasted lawmakers who supported raising the limit, saying "what they have just done to this country, Sean, is hand the most liberal president that we'll probably ever see... an opportunity to spend even more money that we don't have, to create more debt, thinking that that's going to get us out of debt." And Palin has been praising lawmakers who voted against raising the ceiling.

"Thank god for those folks who stood up for their principles," Palin told Hannity. She even gave a shout-out to Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who voted against the compromise and would be fighting for the same crucial support from tea party conservatives with Palin in the 2012 primaries, if the former vice-presidential nominee decides to run.