Tom Emmer, a state congressman with ties to the tea party, won the backing of the state’s GOP party in part due to Palin’s endorsement on the eve of the state convention.
Palin made a personal appeal to delegates as they arrived at the convention. (In Minnesota politics, winning a party’s endorsement is critical to prevailing in the primary.)
She called Mr. Emmer, the more conservative of the two candidates, “a patriotic fiscally conservative ‘hockey dad’” on her Facebook page, and her backing may have helped Emmer clinch the party’s support. He didn’t get an endorsement from the current governor, Tim Pawlenty, until after the convention.
