I agree with you 100%. Sarah Palin is a very “attractive” candidate that fits an ideological need. That's it. Palin may claim to be a reformer, but that's not hard given the political cesspool in Alaska. The rest of her narrative-hockey mom, NRA member, fisherwomen and hunter is either totally irrelevant or is already in the McCain camp.

Her favorability ratings are high–but given the mess in Alaska any credible pol could do that. Remember, the residents in Alaska don't pay income tax. In fact they get a dividend check every year due to oil royalties. This is not an economic environment that forces a politician to make serious decisions.

Not only does she eliminate the “experience” argument that McCain has thrown out there, but she blows him up in other areas. The whole Rezko lie that is circulating out there is nothing compared to the corruption in Alaska Republican Politics. Stevens under indictment, Young being investigated, a number of local politicos under indictment and Palin's own “trooper” problems. Kind of hard to push the Rezko line when Obama has been cleared of any problems and Palin is currently under investigation.

By most accounts this is an economics election. By his own admission, McCain doesn't know much about economics. Up till now he has relied on Phil “the american people are whiners” Gramm as his spokesman. He would have done himself some huge favors by selecting someone with economics gravitas. For all his faults, Mitt Romney would have at least been able to have some credability and would be able to speak with some intelligence. McCain still has noone officially who has any gravitas to speak about economic issues. Carly Fiorina ran HP into the ground before she got fired. I guess Meg Whitman and thats it–but then who is Meg Whitman.

She may be competent as mayor of a small town, but being a heartbeat away from the presidency requires a little higher standard no? The bloom on this rose may not last so very long..

On a bigger picture, Obama has all of the “strategic” advantages. Obama has the enthusiasm edge by a wide margin. He has a serious ground game that McCain does not have. He has an organization that Microsoft would respect. One that is working on all cylinders. The biggest strategic advantage is that he has no money constraints while McCain is limited to public funding.

In the face of these “strategic” advantages and the the democratic convention, which was played “strategically” (don't think for a minute that the Clinton stuff wasn't play acting to the press to build interest in the convention), McCain made a forced tactical move to be relevant. He in essence went for a bomb on third and 20. In the end of the day the only possible advantage McCain really gets is to firm up the fundamentalist base.

It is obvious that Obama and Biden are smart pols who know how to play this strategically. The game plan is to go after McCain, and that will not change. They will not go after Palin, no need to. McCain will have no wing person to protect his flank. No attack dog the way Biden will filet McCain like a ginsu. Now that McCain has pissed off all of the other prospective attack dogs, the only people he probably has left are Lieberman, Graham & Guiliani. No one from the current administration, because of the Bush unfavorability factor.

It's lonely out there when you go for looks and ideology over competence.