Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- For those who wonder what former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is doing with her newfound freedom from the rigors of governing -- aside from writing a book in record time -- please do a Google search for NY-23. That’s the congressional race in upstate New York that Palin has decided to insert herself into.

Rather than endorse the Republican nominee, or just keeping quiet, Palin trashed Dede Scozzafava in favor of an independent, conservative Doug Hoffman, potentially handing the seat to a Democrat for the first time in about a century.

Hoffman couldn’t answer the simplest questions on local economic and transportation issues posed by the editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times, whining that they were “parochial” and should have been given to him in advance. In my parochial school that was called cheating.

Palin, who resigned as Alaska governor in July, didn’t have to leave home to toss her grenade. She did it from the privacy of her laptop. I guess she also can see upstate New York from her front porch.

While Palin’s favorable ratings have fallen since she debuted on the national scene in 2008, the Palin effect is powerful. The sleepy New York off-year special election -- a Republican congressman from District 23 resigned to join the Obama administration -- has almost eclipsed the hot races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia.

Early October saw Scozzafava in the lead. She now trails Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman is within a few points of catching her.

Meet the Test

Scozzafava fails to meet Palin’s requirements for a good Republican because of her moderate position on gay marriage and abortion. While she says she won’t vote for new taxes, Palin doesn’t believe her. Friending Hoffman on Facebook, Palin wrote that the best thing about him is that he’s “not been anointed by any political machine” and stands for bedrock Republican principles. Invoking Ronald Reagan, Palin added that he knew that “blurring the lines wasn’t an appropriate way to win election.”

Put aside that Palin is violating Reagan’s cardinal rule not to speak ill of a fellow Republican. Palin isn’t a stickler for details. Her incursion into NY-23 puts into stark relief the schism in the party that’s been brewing like a tea bag since the party’s loss in November.

One-time rogue Newt Gingrich, in the midst of his periodic dithering over whether to run for president, went nuclear over her purity test. “This idea that we’re suddenly going to establish litmus tests, and all across the country, we’re going to purge the party of anybody who doesn’t agree with us 100 percent -- that guarantees Obama’s reelection. That guarantees Pelosi is speaker for life.”

Poach or Purge

After losing, political parties frequently split over whether to poach or purge: run for the center and pick off issues that appeal to the middle or burn every heretic at the stake in one great bonfire of the moderates. Palin has lit a match. Her band of believers may be small but it is fervent and they are now clearly on the side of the witch hunters in the once Grand Old Party.

Palin didn’t fare well in an early conservative straw poll, but she still is a force to be reckoned with. You get a lot of leeway if you’re entertaining, and that she is. Along with a few right-wing radio hosts, she’s decided to stoke the culture wars.

If this works like her candidacy, the arc will resemble that of the fall of 2008. At first, she energizes the base dramatically but then fades as her positions alienate moderates.

Wary Moderates

Look at health care. Her dire warning of socialist medicine and death panels excited the tea baggers in the summer and support for a public option diminished. Now support of the public option exceeds 70 percent in some polls.

Still, moderates are watching NY-23 with trepidation. Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the choice of the GOP establishment for an open Senate seat, has become wary of showing his middle of the road cred with the “real conservative” in the race for the nomination, Marco Rubio, coming on strong.

Monday, when most Floridians could hardly avoid the news that President Barack Obama was in the state at a Navy base in Jacksonville, Crist pleaded ignorance. “Where was he? First I’ve known about it,” he told reporters the next day.

Crist couldn’t risk another photo like the one Rubio’s been flashing that’s sliced into Crist’s early lead. It shows the governor in a man-hug with Obama at an event in Fort Myers to rally support for the stimulus bill.

Imagine what Palin could do had there been a new photo. Crist should hope she can’t see Tallahassee from Wasilla.

(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

Click on “Send Comment” in the sidebar display to send a letter to the editor.

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 28, 2009 21:00 EDT