After two months sharpening her conservative rhetoric on the US presidential campaign trail, Governor Sarah Palin returned to Alaska today a star in the Republican party, but weakened at home where people had known her as more centrist.
Ms Palin's "pit bull" campaign persona and her strident pitches to the conservative base of the Republican Party were a stark contrast to her nonpartisan, populist style as governor, leaving raw feelings among some Alaskans, experts said.
As speculation of a presidential run in 2012 builds, an editorial in today's
Anchorage Daily Newsasked which Palin will return to Alaska: the pragmatic centrist who was wildly popular at home or the highly partisan politician who drew huge crowds to campaign rallies across the United States?
"Her obligations as governor point her in one direction. Her national ambitions point her in another," the newspaper said.
Prior to joining Republican presidential candidate John McCain on the ticket, Ms Palin boasted the highest approval rating of any US governor, winning favor with her tough stance toward oil companies and championing a handsome payout to all Alaskans as a windfall from high oil prices.
Ms Palin returns to an Alaska where oil prices are less than half the record highs that padded the state treasury with surpluses and where critics have launched various ethics probes alleging misuse of public funds and abuse of power.
This week, a state panel cleared Ms Palin of wrongdoing in the abuse-of-power investigation.
She first ruffled some feathers in her introductory speech on August 29, when she claimed credit for killing the notorious "Bridge to Nowhere" - a contradiction of her past support for the project and her claim, during the 2006 gubernatorial race, that the nickname for the proposed bridge was insulting.
Her claims about cutting Alaska's budget and the size of government also did not sit well with critics since both ballooned under her watch as oil prices surged.
"A lot of people have been stung, or felt stung," said state Senator Reggie Joule, an Inupiat Eskimo from the northwest town of Kotzebue and part of a mostly Democratic coalition that backed Ms Palin's initiatives on crucial oil and gas issues.
Even her reference to the "Joe Six-Pack" constituency was considered poor form by some Alaskans and insensitive because of the historic ravages of alcohol abuse here, especially in Native villages.
Ms Palin arrived back in Alaska greeted by cheering supporters at the Anchorage international airport. She downplayed concerns about how hurt feelings in the state legislature could make it difficult for her to govern.
"Nobody should have hurt feelings. My goodness, this is politics. Politics is rough and tumble, and people need to get thick skins, just like I've gotten," she said.
Reuters