2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[Roy Karrde]

Eh?

Maybe you recall I said he did a lot of dumb things... Most would agree that Palin was one of the dumbest.

In terms of getting the Republican base enthusiastic, I would utterly disagree. Before the Palin nod, the Republican base was down and out. After it not only was the "I am not voting for McCain, I am voting for Palin" vote coming out, but McCain was leading Obama for the first time. Palin not only got the Republican base behind him, but suddenly got alot of interest in the McCain campaign. Admittedly he had no chance in the end, not because of Palin, but because of the economic downfall. But take that out of the picture, and the choice of Palin probably would have been seen as the thing that saved McCain's campaign.

As proof I give you this from the Washington Post.

Love her or loathe her, the data appear somewhere close to conclusive that Palin did little to help -- and, in fact, did some to hurt -- McCain's attempts to reach out to independents and Democrats. But just because Palin doesn't appear to have helped McCain move to the middle doesn't mean that picking her was the wrong move.

Remember where McCain found himself this past summer. He had won the Republican nomination, but the GOP base clearly felt little buy-in into his campaign. A slew of national polls reflected that energy gap, with Democrats revved up about the election and their candidate and Republicans somewhere between tepid and glum.

Enter Palin, who was embraced with a bear hug by the party's conservative base. All of a sudden, cultural conservatives were thrilled at the chance to put "one of their own" in the White House. In fact, of the 60 percent of voters who told exit pollsters that McCain's choice of Palin was a "factor" in their final decision, the Arizona senator won 56 percent to 43 percent.

For skittish conservatives looking for more evidence that McCain understood their needs and concerns, Palin did the trick. It's hard to imagine conservatives rallying to McCain -- even to the relatively limited extent that they did -- without Palin on the ticket. And without the base, McCain's loss could have been far worse.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sh...#ixzz1ibOhHQqT