Does Christine O'Donnell suit Delaware to a tea?

DOVER, DEL. - Sunglasses propping up her thick brunette bangs, the rising 40-something conservative politico stood up to rally 150 die-hard tea-party backers, seemingly stunned by the shock waves that she's sending through the GOP establishment.

"Did you guys see what happened today? We dominated the airwaves," Republican U.S. Senate upstart candidate Christine O'Donnell enthused from a flatbed truck, the Delaware Capitol silhouetted in dusk behind her. "Pretty cool! It wasn't just Rush, it wasn't just Hannity - even [liberal MSNBC host] Rachel Maddow was talking about us!"

In the thundering world of political punditry, everyone is indeed suddenly talking about the once- unknown, underfunded and underemployed O'Donnell, and about her chances of shocking the ultimate GOP handpicked insider candidate, Rep. Mike Castle, in Tuesday's Senate primary here.

And it's hard not to imagine that some of the hype goes back to this: Attractive and youthfully effusive, with a vague resumé and unapologetically ultraconservative on social issues like abortion and teen promiscuity, O'Donnell sends off the vibe of a certain Alaska political sensation.

Simply put, for East Coast conservatives, O'Donnell is becoming the Sarah Palin next door.

It didn't hurt yesterday afternoon when the tea-party-backed insurgent picked up the endorsement of the actual Palin - a huge boost that the O'Donnell campaign had been seeking for weeks.

It came in Palin's usual fashion, in a call to right-wing radio host Sean Hannity, and then a post on Facebook, on which the former Alaska governor and possible 2012 White House hopeful wrote that O'Donnell is a "Constitutional conservative" and said: "We can't afford 'more of the same' in Washington."

An O'Donnell primary upset on Tuesday - and most pundits believe that she is in striking distance of the much-better-known Castle, although polling data is scant - would place an exclamation mark on a summer of voter unrest that has roiled the Republican Party and that could unravel the GOP's seemingly strong shot at retaking Congress in 2011.

In several key elections - most notably Alaska, where Palin-endorsed ultraconservative Joe Miller shocked incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a GOP primary last month - mainline Republicans on track for an easy fall victory have lost to outspoken right-wingers who may not be as electable.