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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrLucky who wrote (263898)	8/29/2008 2:25:02 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 793838

McCain to Obama: “We Can Too.” By Dan Schnur Dan Schnur, the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, was the national communications director for John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000. (Full biography.) The selection of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate tells us a great deal about John McCain. But it tells us even more about how he and his advisers see this election shaping up. First, it demonstrates how strongly his campaign believes that Hillary Clinton’s supporters will decide this election. The pundit-ocracy has talked endlessly over the last several months about the importance of white working-class voters in this election and the difficulty that Barack Obama has had in securing their support. Mr. McCain’s campaign did their best to stir resentment among Mrs. Clinton’s backers over the last several days. Now they’re making a full frontal effort to win them over, particularly the 35-to-44-year-old women who they see as a particularly important voting bloc. Mr. McCain’s advisers will go to great pains to point out that the 44-year-old Ms. Palin drives to work every day in her family Jetta, and hope that she can establish an emotional connection with these voters that neither Mr. Obama or their own candidate has been able to accomplish. Second, it shows that Mr. McCain’s criticisms of Mr. Obama’s lack of experience are having no more impact on undecided voters than Mrs. Clinton’s attacks on him did last spring. Ms. Palin is a first-term governor with little experience in elected office. Her selection makes it almost impossible for Mr. McCain and his allies to continue to denigrate Mr. Obama on this front. (By Monday morning, assume that every Republican in the country who believed that experience was important will no longer think so, and that every Democrat who didn’t think it was a big deal will now decide it is absolutely critical.) Mr. McCain and his team have probably concluded that suffering through the stature gap in a vice presidential debate is a sacrifice worth making given Ms. Palin’s other potential advantages. Third, it motivates the conservative base of the Republican Party. Although Mr. McCain has made steady strides in shoring up his support from conservative voters, that support has appeared more dutiful than heartfelt. Strains of that conservatism may not wear well with some swing voters, but the working class in Ohio and Michigan tend to be economically populist and socially conservative. Mr. McCain is gambling that support from these voters will offset losses among socially moderate and economically upscale suburbanites. Fourth, it suggests that Mr. McCain’s advisers are not that confident about the current trajectory of the race. When their candidate was running 10 or 12 points behind, it seemed likely that Mr. McCain would be forced to take a gamble by naming a moderate like Tom Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor; Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent senator; or a woman or a minority like Ms. Palin or Bobby Jindahl, the governor of Louisiana. As the polls tightened, a more conventional alternative like Mitt Romney appeared to be a safer choice. But even with their candidate running even with Mr. Obama, John McCain’s senior staff must have decided that a more dramatic selection was necessary. And finally, it reminds us how much John McCain enjoys his reputation as a maverick. As he’s made his way back in the polls over the last several weeks, Mr. McCain has been running an effective but very conventional campaign. But this type of surprise and such a sizable gamble illustrates how badly John McCain misses being seen as an unconventional politician. Ms. Palin is the first female vice presidential nominee of one of the two major parties in almost a quarter of a century. Mr. McCain obviously couldn’t make as much history as Obama did this week, but he did make some of his own. Thursday night, Barack Obama effectively made the case for change. Friday morning, John McCain did the same.

To: MrLucky who wrote (263898)	8/29/2008 2:31:01 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793838

I am eager to see her and Biden go at it. That said, I am wondering who the moderator of that debate is and which "sandbag" question they will toss her way in an attempt to disqualify her candidacy. that should be fun to watch... i'm just reading up on her now, i've come to the conclusion that she is a ball buster.....<g> (i say that in the nicest of ways) more than being a 'woman pick'...she's a true political outsider that's the kind of 'change' i like