Wednesday morning, Sarah Palin's Facebook page came out with a long, strong endorsement of Joe Miller in his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska GOP primary. The endorsement sets Miller ("a true Commonsense Constitutional Conservative," also a West Pointer, Yale Law grad and former federal judge) up as a thrifty, anti-establishment outsider, and sets Murkowski up as the profligate, entrenched D.C. establishment. Palin's Facebook endorsement says that Murkowski is out of touch with "so many of Alaskans’ values" because she's not "unashamedly and unequivocally" opposed to abortion rights and stem-cell research, because she believes global warming is a fact, and because she doesn't favor repealing "Obamacare" (the former governor's pet name for the health-care reform package approved this year by both houses of Congress).

In case you're thinking this endorsement is just another salvo in a rumored low-intensity shooting war between Murkowski and Palin, think again! Palin's note does its best to dispel that rumor: "Though the media has tried to portray some sort of feud or bad blood between Lisa and myself, such is not the case. I’ve always wished her well [no bad blood so far ... ], but it is my firm belief that we need a bold reformer who is not afraid to stand up to special interests and take on the tough challenges of our time [ah, there it is]." Read the Facebook endorsement for yourself, here. But do remember that if there were bad blood, it would go back to when Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to his senate seat when he came back to Alaska to be governor. Palin had finished second to Loren Leman in the lieutenant governor's race. She was on the shortlist for the position and very much wanted that job.

Last month, Joe Miller sounded a little testy when Alaska Dispatch asked him about whether or not Todd Palin's appearance at a fundraiser of his (and the aforementioned appearance of bad blood) meant he would be receiving Sarah Palin's endorsement. He responded, "It's not about Sarah Palin and Lisa Murkowski." We're not sure if this endorsement means it just became about them or not, but we're certain Joe Miller is still a candidate.