Ethics

The Palin Effect on Independents

By Ed Brayton

As Andrew Sullivan notes, John McCain's appeal has always been toward political moderates and independents rather than the hardcore conservative base. His political calculation was that he could appeal to enough of those moderates, particularly the Reagan and Clinton Democrats, that he could win the election as long as he didn't lose too much of the base.

The problem is that he knew he still had to find some way to energize the base and keep them in his camp and the way he did that, I think, is with Sarah Palin. And it worked. Her nomination clearly energized the religious right base and got some enthusiasm going on his right flank. But that also appears to have pretty much destroyed his appeal to the middle according to a New York Times poll.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on October 24, 2008 (boomark / email).