Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin has her eyes on Arkansas politics this year, telling a partisan crowd in the Natural State earlier this week, “I think the rest of the country is saying, ‘Come on Arkansas, it’s time to make a change.’”

During a fundraiser for the state Republican Party at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, the former Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential nominee said Republicans shouldn’t be afraid of competitive primary races, The Southwest Times Record reports ^[1].

She added that primaries help to produce candidates with the leadership Americans deserve and want, the newspaper reports. “Nobody should ever be afraid of these contested primaries,” Palin said. “Competition is good. This is democracy at work.”

Palin continued that “a lot of good candidates” are running in Arkansas this year, but singled out just one candidate for mention — Tim Griffin. Griffin, a former Bush administration official who was a key figure in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal, is viewed as the likely GOP nominee in Arkansas’ 2nd congressional district, seeking to replace Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder. Snyder dropped ^[2] his re-election bid last month, citing family concerns. CQ Politics rates the race as “Leans Republican.”

Tim Griffin (Tim Griffin for Congress)

Griffin, who was a former assistant to Karl Rove in the White House under George W. Bush, was installed as the U.S. Attorney in Little Rock in December 2006 under a controversial provision of the Patriot Act that circumvented Senate confirmation. It later emerged in congressional testimony that Griffin’s predecessor, Bud Cummins, had been ousted in an apparent move to make way for Griffin. Griffin stepped down as U.S. Attorney in June 2007.

During the event Palin praised Griffin for his 13 years of service as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Army Reserve, The Southwest Times Record reports.

She said, “I get such a kick out of Arkansas politics and some of the characters over the past decades coming out of Arkansas.”

Palin, who said she is “doing everything I can, especially with these midterms, to get this country back on track,” did not say whether she would be doing events for individual candidates. Griffin’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on whether Palin would be attending any Griffin events or fundraisers.