Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain Pick Makes It a Horserace

In my last post I wondered if John McCain would repeat the V.P. choice mistake made by the Democrats.

He didn’t.

Instead, he may have hit a political homerun.

With one fell swoop, he made an unexpected and astounding pick for his V.P. by naming Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, which is likely to help attract female undecideds, progressive thinking voters of all ilks, and social conservatives in both parties.

And in so doing he elevated his own status as a discerner of what his party needs not only in order to have a shot at winning, but also to focus its direction.

Plus, what I didn’t see noted much anywhere today, even in the abundance of coverage, was that by picking Gov. Palin, he now has an excellent chance to pull in and secure the evangelical base which his party needs to win and which he has had difficulty so far in corralling. These are the critical voters who turned out to allow G.W. to eke out a victory, especially in 2004.

The big question: Is Sarah Palin the catalyst that will make them come out again for McCain?

At any rate, it looks like we now have a horserace that will take us right up to election day. This is gonna be interesting!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is always nice to have a "filly" in a horce race!

Anonymous said...

Ed said, it's nice to have a "filly" in a horse race. I would add especially one that looks like Sara. Actually, McCain took a risk but strategically there are several very interesting reasons why this choice may put him over the top. It's "change" and Obama isn't the only one breaking a barrier. She's a woman, which may pull some women into the republican column. She's tough, smart and not afraid to fight ethical battles even against fellow republicans. Biden will have a hard time attacking her, she's a "girl" after all. Remember what happened when a man (name escapes me, although I can picture him) entered Hillary's space during a debate with a document in his hand? It cost him the election, so Biden, the attack dog, may have been defanged. She brings in conservatives, many of whom would have stayed home or voted for Bob Barr (which I considered). She will bring in the Christian vote, as you indicated. She off-sets McCain's liberal side. The NRA will back her. The folks who want to drill for oil (the majority) will back her. And best of all, she may have taken Hillary out of play for the presidency for good. These are a few ideas off the top of my head.