Sarah Palin's push to elect "mama grizzlies" in this election year was a mistake, for two reasons.

First, it's contrary to the Republican principle that race, gender and ethnicity are irrelevant. Conservatives stand for true equality. We don't buy the liberal bean-counting, raceand- gender-quota mentality. We should elect the best person, period.

Second, Palin's abandonment of this conservative principle has produced some mistaken endorsements.

Nowhere is this clearer than in New Hampshire, where Palin gave a big bear hug to Kelly Ayotte, the Washington GOP, big-money, establishment favorite...