Sarah Palin went home this week to cold Alaska, where the temperature was below freezing as she got off the plane. Her BFF Linda Lingle might find her home state a bit chilly, too.

The chickens have come home to roost, and in both cases, the rest of the barnyard heard all about what they said out there in the big wide world, and now they have some questions.

Both Palin and Lingle had some brash talk that might have sounded sassy in the moment but didn't ring true back in their home states. Both of them acted like they'd never have to go back to their boring old jobs as governor.

"Her obligations as governor point her in one direction. Her national ambitions point her in another," the Anchorage Daily News said about Palin in a recent editorial.

The same could be said about Lingle.

While Lingle was off campaigning for McCain and Palin, she left the Republican Party in Hawai'i in a canoe without a paddle or a manapua (to coin a Mufi-esque phrase). The result was devastating: Two incumbent Republican legislators lost in the election and many Democratic incumbents went unchallenged. Lingle has gnashed her teeth at the Democrat-controlled Legislature's stonewalling of her initiatives, but she did little to change that this time. Even the Democrats should be mad: they are so much sharper when they have solid Republicans to push against.

If Lingle has aspirations for higher office, she may have to wait for a national party appointment. Either that or run from a red state. How could she mount another campaign in Hawai'i now, a place that gave the guy she bad-mouthed on the Mainland the highest percentage of the state's electorate? Who would run her campaign here? The same Republican party she left behind to do their own little three-person sign wavings all last month? Lenny Klompus can't do everything by himself.

This week, Lingle will brush the election dust off her shoulders and head to Asia to promote Hawai'i as a tourism destination. She'll visit Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea.

Hey, you know what would make all those folks want to come to Hawai'i? Barack Obama! They adore him! Imagine all the people in Japan and Indonesia who would love to see Obama's homeland!

Oh, wait. Lingle never met him and said, as Colorado's Greeley Tribune reported, "... Obama spent only a few years in Hawai'i during his high school years, and that his claim of Hawai'i as one of his home states is disingenuous."

Oops.

Well, maybe she can enjoy some quiet time abroad because back home, when the Legislature starts up again in January, she'll be standing on her own bridge to nowhere.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.