Next up for Sarah Palin: U.S. Senate?

Sarah Palin has returned home to Alaska, where she still has two years left in her term as governor, but a lot of people are already trying to figure out a way to bring Palin to Washington.

Amanda Carpenter, writing at Townhall.com, sees two scenarios where Palin could end up being the next U.S. Senator from Alaska.

From Carpenter's blog post:

As we wait for the final results to come in about Ted Steven's Senate race many of you have been wondering about Sarah Palin's options for the slot.

I have all the relevant Alaskan state law statutes in front of me so let me run down the scenarios for you.

SCENARIO 1) If Ted Stevens loses, Democrat Mark Begich becomes Alaska's new senator. Palin can challenge Lisa Murkowski for her seat in 2010. (This would be fitting since Palin unseated Murkowski's father. It would be interesting to watch Palin go after the daughter, too.)

SCENARIO 2) Ted Stevens wins and then the Senate refuses to seat him. Or, Stevens does the right thing and resigns.

If this happens and Palin wanted to get his seat she would be best off temporarily appointing someone else and running for the seat straight up in a special election. This is because Alaskan law requires a special election and while Palin may be able to temporarily appoint herself the laws on this are too new and confusing to mess with.

This might be a great move for Palin. As we we've just learned with the election of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, experience is no longer required to be elected president. A couple of years in the Senate and you, too, can be president.

And imagine Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton on the same floor of the U.S. Senate. That alone is worth the price of admission.

In case you missed it (and you probably did since the liberal media can't be bothered with these types of stories), Palin was exonerated earlier this week in the "Troopergate" incident.

An independent investigator found no fault with Palin's firing an Alaska official. This was the official investigation by an independent counsel hired by the state personnel board.

The earlier "investigation" that got so much media coverage was done by a legislative panel controlled by Democrats. In other words, it was a political hatchet-job, the kind the liberal media likes to report on when Republicans are the target.

With "Troopergate" behind her, there's nothing hold Sarah Palin from coming to Washington ... and preparing for a possible presidential run in 2012.

Read Carpenter's full post at Townhall.com