Sarah Palin has endorsed conservative candidate Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, sending out a statement and posting a message to her Facebook page urging her supporters to get behind the third party candidate. This puts her squarely against many in the GOP establishment who have backed the Republican Dede Scozzafava in a November 2 special election to replace long time Republican John McHugh, who resigned to become Obama’s Secretary of the Army.

Scozzafava has received the backing of the Republican groups in Washington despite her support for gay marriage, card-check legislation, the ACORN supported Working Families Party, Obama’s stimulus package, and her noted (and repeated) support of tax hikes. As the Wall Street Journal put it, “She has voted for so many tax increases that the Democrat is attacking her as a tax raiser. Our sources tell us the backroom boys picked Ms. Scozzafava because she is a woman with high name recognition who could appeal to Democrats. Too bad she doesn’t appeal to Republicans.” This leads them to ask a question that many conservatives have asked, why is Ms. Scozzafava a Republican in the first place?

Palin’s endorsement is a big boost to Conservative Party nominee Hoffman, a darling of the TEA Party supporters in New York, viewed by many within the movement, ” as a squishy moderate who represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party.”

“They’re all making a concerted effort for Doug Hoffman, and they are making New York 23 a last stand,” said Erick Erickson, who has been urging tea party activists for months to ramp up electoral efforts against the Republican Party on his influential conservative blog RedState. “New York should be a hill to die on for conservative activists.”

All this energy is sure to get a huge boost from the support of Palin. Since leaving her seat as Governor several months ago, the former Vice Presidential nominee has been criss-crossing the country supporting conservative candidates and helping them raise money, still drawing the large crowds and attention she did while on the campaign trail with John McCain in 2008. Palin is going all in for Hoffman saying in her note to supporters, “It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.”

Palin also pointed out something that the TEA Party activists are sure to latch onto.

“Best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine. Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.

There is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race. This is why Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party’s ticket. Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual.”

It will be interesting to see if the TEA Party activists, the conservative blogosphere and the support of Sarah Palin can lift Hoffman over the line on election day. If nothing else, a large split of the GOP vote in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a split that hands the seat to the Democrats, should teach the Republican establishment that no matter how badly you want to win a race, don’t put all your chips in the basket of someone who shares very few of the same principles your voters do, but just happens to have an “R” next to their name.