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Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has endorsed incumbent Texas GOP Governor Rick Perry in his race against U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the GOP Gubernatorial nomination.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed Rick Perry for re-election, calling him the “true conservative” in a primary election showdown with fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Palin, who electrified the GOP base as the party’s vice presidential nominee last year, has strong support among the party’s social conservatives. Her endorsement appeared aimed at undercutting Hutchison’s appeal with GOP women. Both groups will be important in picking the party’s nominee in next year’s Republican primary.

In a letter to “Texas Republican women” distributed by the Perry campaign, Palin touts the Texas governor’s conservative credentials.

“He walks the walk of a true conservative. And he sticks by his guns – and you know how I feel about guns,” she said.

Palin cited one of the Perry campaign’s top issues – opposition to federal financial bailouts. And she singled out Perry’s opposition to abortion rights.

“Not every child is born into ideal circumstances, but every life is sacred,” Palin said in the mail appeal. “Rick Perry knows this – it is at the core of his being.”

Hutchison supports abortion rights, although with restrictions, including parental notification and a ban on certain late-term procedures.

The GOP primary draws a large number of social conservatives for whom abortion and gay marriage are litmus-test issues. And in recent weeks, Perry has made high-profile appeals to abortion opponents.

Is this endorsement all about abortion?

Probably not but Sarah Palin reinforces her social conservative CRED which she will need in early GOP Presidential primary contests in Iowa and South Carolina should she decide to run for President in 2012 or 2016. Palin has nothing to lose here since Perry is a conservative and is not afraid to run on it.

Flap remembers when Governor Perry called out California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at his own California State GOP Convention.

Stay tuned as this primary race becomes another bitter primary intra-GOP brawl.