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McCain cites need for experience, picks first-term governor as veep
Egad! It's all over my friends page already. Sarah Palin! McCain picks Alaska governor to be his running mate!
Opinions are all over the map. Myself, I think it was a very clever choice from a demographic point of view, and frankly a lot bolder than I would have expected from his campaign. Apart from the simple fact that she's a woman, she's pro-life and has one child with Down syndrome; she's an evangelical, but not a Southern evangelical; she has Alaska credibility and supports drilling in ANWR. She's almost tailor-made to draw back the moderate conservatives who have become disillusioned with the Republican Party in the last eight years. Very shrewd indeed.
But my gut reaction says that it's a fatal mistake for McCain, who has been running almost exclusively on an "experience" platform for the last several months. Choosing Palin pretty much annihilates that argument. It seems to say that McCain no longer believes he can win experience, and is looking for a reverse wedge that he thinks will give him an advantage.
If that's the case, I think Obama and Biden have a clear path to victory. They need to focus diligently but relentlessly on policy issues. McCain and Palin are going to have an uphill battle persuading the public that they are a team prepared to lead the country, and that Palin will be ready to take over the top job if McCain keels over. Unless Palin turns out to be a ringer on the debate box, I expect Biden to be able to eat her for dinner.
The game isn't over, not by a long shot --- but the McCain campaign just took a big fumble.
Opinions are all over the map. Myself, I think it was a very clever choice from a demographic point of view, and frankly a lot bolder than I would have expected from his campaign. Apart from the simple fact that she's a woman, she's pro-life and has one child with Down syndrome; she's an evangelical, but not a Southern evangelical; she has Alaska credibility and supports drilling in ANWR. She's almost tailor-made to draw back the moderate conservatives who have become disillusioned with the Republican Party in the last eight years. Very shrewd indeed.
But my gut reaction says that it's a fatal mistake for McCain, who has been running almost exclusively on an "experience" platform for the last several months. Choosing Palin pretty much annihilates that argument. It seems to say that McCain no longer believes he can win experience, and is looking for a reverse wedge that he thinks will give him an advantage.
If that's the case, I think Obama and Biden have a clear path to victory. They need to focus diligently but relentlessly on policy issues. McCain and Palin are going to have an uphill battle persuading the public that they are a team prepared to lead the country, and that Palin will be ready to take over the top job if McCain keels over. Unless Palin turns out to be a ringer on the debate box, I expect Biden to be able to eat her for dinner.
The game isn't over, not by a long shot --- but the McCain campaign just took a big fumble.
no subject
But McCain still has all the experience he had 24 hours ago, and Obama has gotten 24 more hours of experience as a senator & presidential candidate. McCain can still tout experience, because he has it and Obama doesn't. And it's not like the Dems can't say "Look at how inexperienced she is!" with Obama sitting on the top of their ticket.
I disagree with your characterization as a fumble for McCain - she's a great choice to turn out the conservative side of the Republican party who might otherwise stay home in droves for McCain, while poaching Hilary supporters who might otherwise stay home instead of voting for Obama. Sure, given that she's pro-life she's not going to be able to sway that many Democrats, but really, who can you think of as a potential running mate who would garner votes from the Dems & swing voters without driving away the conservatives? Maverick McCain, who lots of Republicans love to hate for his maverick ways, needed to pick someone who could convince Republicans that they should actually vote in November - having Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office will do just that.
no subject
It's going to be very hard for him to make that argument now, since it opens him up to the same criticism. The argument that Obama presents now is not "experience matters," it's "you're no longer in a position to criticize me." And they can make that point very effectively now. I don't expect to see much of the "experience" stuff from the McCain camp any longer.