No longer will the liberal media be free to lie, distort, and viciously smear her and her family without her being able to respond.  Being Governor of Alaska was a great job, a job that she did better than perhaps any Alaskan Governor in history, and certainly she was the most effective Governor in America, getting more positive results in one term than others get done in mutiple terms.  However that job comes with a steep price, while she is helping make Alaska a better place, she is unable to respond to the far-left in the lower 48 states.  A change needed to be made, and she made it in dramatic style.  Certainly she is right in saying that her decision is in the best interests of Alaska, as not only will her Presidency be the biggest thing for Alaska since they became a state, but in the meantime she’s leaving Alaska in the capable leadership of her right hand man, a man who will continue and build on her legacy of tremendous accomplishment and achievement. 

I’ve written extensively in the past on what I feel Governor Palin should do to prepare for the 2012 campaign, but I’d like to re-state, and expand on those suggestions just a bit at this time.  First, my suggestions that she start a PAC and campaign for other candidates, she did that and that has worked out excellently.  She saved the Georgia Senate seat, and did so in truly impressive fashion.  No doubt as she travels America and campaigns for more outstanding candidates she will continue to impress, as while she has proven her awesome leadership abilities, she also has proven amazing campaigning skills also, and the more she does it the better, for herself as well as for all of America.  Another suggestion that I made, that I really hope she will take (maybe she has already) is that she learn Spanish.  That is so important.  For all the inside the beltway chatter that the only way to win the Hispanic vote is the offer amnesty and other such benefits to illegals, how’d that work for John McCain?  George Bush scored a very impressive amount of the Hispanic vote, and he did so by, quite literally, speaking their language.  That’s always the key to winning over a key voting demographic, speaking their language, and in this case its a bit more literal than usual .  Hispanics are culturally Conservative, their views are a perfect fit with those of Governor Palin’s, if she can speak their language she can win them over in record numbers.  One other suggestion I would like to make is that she follow up on one point she made in her speech as soon as possible, and that is the point she made about campaigning for people ‘regardless of party’.  Specificly, she needs to find one (no need to stop at one of course) Democrat that she can support, promote, and make the symbol of her new kind of politics, that puts principle over party.  It’s nice to say that you’re willing to support like minded Democrats, but saying it doesn’t make the impact that actually doing it does, once she actually does it she will start reaping the benefits, she will have proven her character and leadership to all those fair minded Democrats and Independents out there who just needed a reason to believe.  She should find this person and make him/her famous, just like Joe the Plumber.  It will be a win-win, for her, for the candidate, for America.

I’m proud to call myself a long time supporter of Govenor Palin’s, I was one of the people who campaigned hard to get Senator McCain to pick her as his running mate.  She was the reason a lot of people, including myself, ended up voting for him in November.  If she had been at the top of the ticket we’d probably have won.  I believe that with Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket in 2012 we will win, and America will win!

First, let us remind ourselves that one of the key swing voting groups is the Hispanic vote.  They are naturally Conservative, good Christian Americans, strongly pro-Life and pro-Marriage.  It is only due to an extreme lack of basic judgement that there are more Democrats than Republicans among this voting group, as the Hispanic vote should be going 70-30 or better for the Republicans each year.  Sadly, this year it pretty much went 70-30 against us, and obviously you can’t win elections when a huge voting group that SHOULD be overwhelmingly on your side, is overwhelmingly on the other side.  Some have said in the past that the key to winning this group is by being pro illegal immigration.  Well, the GOP nominee was the most pro-illegal in GOP history, and yet he lost the Hispanic vote by a historic landslide, to a candidate that Hispanics had already proven they didnt even like, in the Democratic Primaries.  So anyone who suggests that our future nominees should be pro-illegal have been proven wrong once and for all.  Instead we should focus our efforts to winning this group of voters by making some simple efforts.  Governor Palin must immediately learn Spanish.  Speaking Spanish was key to George Bush’s success Amongst the Hispanic vote, and certainly it helped Obama to speak a bit of Spanish.  I never heard McCain speak any Spanish at all, if he did it was VERY VERY little because I heard a LOT of McCain, and it was all English all the time.  If you quite literally cannot speak their language, you are going to have a hard time getting their vote.   Obviously there are other elements to winning the Hispanic vote, including putting an increased emphasis on Family, Life, Marriage, the moral issues that Governor Palin supports and that the Hispanic Community is in 100% agreement with her, and us, on. 

Another important element will be the tax issue.  Its likely that Obama and the Congressional Democrats will raise our taxes between now and 2012, and the American People will be very much interested in lower, and fairer, taxes.  To that end, Governor Palin should embrace the Fair Tax, make that issue her own, much the way that Governor Huckabee did in Iowa, and rode that issue all the way to victory in the First in the Nation Caucuses.  The Fair Tax is both extremely popular and, well, extremely fair.  The American People will love this proposal once they hear about it and understand it.  Championing such an awesome piece of legislation will be of great benefit to the Governor, both in the Primary and in the General Election as well. 

Third, I’m not sure how many people here regularly watch ‘Mr Independent’ Lou Dobbs, weeknights on CNN.  I very much enjoyed watching him this campaign cycle, he is extremely fair, very knowledgeable, and brings a unique insight that the American People identify with, as it is the American People that he sides with on the important issues, not the special interests or the ideaologues on either side of the aisle.  If you watched him regularly during the General Election, you know that he very much disliked Obama, McCain, AND Biden, and the only person he liked was Governor Palin.  He constantly came to her defense as the liberal media lied about and slandered her, constantly attacking the liberal media for their bias and distortions.  This man can, and should, be one of the Governor’s biggest allies in the media in 2012.  His support will gain Governor Palin the support of countless Independent Americans who regularly watch Lou’s show, his endorsement would be quite simply invaluable.  Also, his expertise on the most important issues of the day, including Border Security, Free and Fair Trade, the War on the Middle Class, etc would be of immense benefit to the Governor, as even though Governor Palin no doubt is far more knowledgeable on matters such as these than most give her credit for, the fact is that Lou Dobbs is one of the best and brightest in America on these issues, if she works together with him in forming her campaign platform on these crucial issues not only will it result in tremendous support from Lou and the Independent Minded Americans who watch his show, but it will quite simply result in an awesome campaign platform, and better Government once she is elected President, which means that everyone is a winner.

So these are my reccomendations in Part Three of this Post Election Plan.  In short, Governor Palin should learn Spanish, embrace the Fair Tax, and meet and work with Lou Dobbs, a man who supported her this year and no doubt will support her even more strongly in 2012 if she plays her cards right.  Remember, if you haven’t read the first two parts of this plan yet, please do so now.  Thank you.

First, be generous with your time and money, a little could go a long way in this important step. We all should donate to our local library, but I imagine most of us, myself included, have never done so. For those of us who haven’t, let’s make this year the first! We’ve all seen the book “Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down” by Kaylene Johnson. I think we all know this is an excellent book about Governor Palin, and that it would be fantastic if everyone in America could read it. With that in mind I would like to ask each of you to find out if your local library has a copy of this excellent book, and if it doesn’t please donate a copy to them. If they already have a copy, perhaps another nearby library might be in need of one. Of course, if you know of an even better book, especially if your local library already has a copy of this excellent book, feel free to donate that one instead. Donating to our local libraries will make us feel good, knowing that we’re helping a good cause will make us feel great!

The next idea is similar to the first, and also very important. As you know, the Christmas Season is fast upon us, and what better gift to give our loved ones than the gift of knowledge? To that end, I would like to ask you to follow my lead, in giving the ‘Sarah’ book when you’re gift-giving this year. Of course it doesn’t have to be during the holidays, this is an excellent gift for birthdays or other special occasions.

The key is to spread knowledge. Governor Palin has a lot of liberal media bias to overcome. The liberals have gotten away with, thanks to the ineptitude of the McCain campaign, enabling the American people to simultaneously believe that Sarah Palin isnt qualified to be President, but that Obama is. Obviously thats pure sexism, since she is vastly more experienced and qualified than Obama is, but that sexism hasn’t been confronted with the ferocity that the Hillary campaign confronted the sexism they faced in the primaries. Republicans generally, and the McCain campaign specificly, have shown themselves to be quite weak at fighting sexist attacks by Democrats. As supporters of Governor Sarah Palin, we cannot be like that. If we allow ourselves to be weak in fighting sexism, we, and Governor Palin, will surely lose in 2012, as the sexism isnt going away, if anything it will likely get worse. One of the best ways of fighting sexist ignorance is with knowledge. I always tell my friends that Governor Palin cut taxes, cut spending, took on the big oil companies, balanced the budget and in fact ran a surplus, and gave 1200 dollars back to every taxpayer in Alaska. I tell them that makes her not just the most popular Governor in America, which the polls show, but in fact the most successful Governor in America. I usually dont even bother pointing out that incredible pipeline deal, or the killing the brdige to nowhere, or any of the other things she has done for Alaska and the Alaskan Taxpayer, because that information alone is enough to make my point quite powerfully. The more people read this book, and learn all those details and MORE, that will go a LONG way toward overcoming the ignorant sexism that has been rampant from the Obama media.

The very idea that they have turned the most popular, successful, and yes VERY ‘qualified’ Governor in America into someone seen by over half of America as ‘unqualified’ is an extreme outrage to me, and I know it is to you as well. But it isn’t enough to whine about and it and then shrug our shoulders, if we do that the sexist liberal media will have scored one of their biggest victories ever. They want to steal America’s Margaret Thatcher from us, to deny us, as well as America as a whole, her historic Presidency and outstanding leadership. We can’t, and I trust we WON’T, let that happen. Please join with me in taking solid, positive steps in fighting the ignorance and sexism, these are steps we can, and should, take regardless of who wins the election Tuesday.

To that end, I am presenting a series, not just a single post, on where we go from here Post-Election. Much of this advice will be for our candidate in 2012, Governor Sarah Palin. She’s new to national politics, and some of the tried and true methods of winning elections, especially primary elections, may be things she isn’t familiar with. I’ll detail some of the most important steps she needs to take to make sure she secures the nomination of our Party, so that she can go up against either Majority Leader Hillary Clinton, or President Obama (depending on who wins Tuesday), from a position of maximum strength and effectiveness.

One of the most important things that Governor Palin can do is to set up a Political Action Committee, the sooner the better. The basic function of this PAC will of course be to raise money to give to various Conservative Republicans running for office throughout America, especially those who are running in the early primary/caucus states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. While it is noble and good in and of itself to raise money for these deserving candidates, the ultimate goal of this PAC is not simply to elect more Conservative Republicans to office, it is to to elect Conservative Republicans to office who will then support Governor Palin in her 2012 Primary campaign. Campaigning for, and raising money for candidates is one of the most basic early building blocks of any potential Presidential campaign, as it lays an important foundation for when you actually announce your candidacy.

Another important thing is to learn how to effectively raise funds, something that is obviously easier said than done, but it is nevertheless something that MUST be done. We’re in a new time, a new age of fundraising, the old ways don’t work anymore, as we’re finding out in a big and terrible way right now. Only one Republican in the 2008 Primary season had a clue how to raise big money via the Internet, and it certainly wasn’t John McCain so she can’t learn from him. Its important to study just how Obama on the left and Ron Paul on the right raised such impressive sums via the internet, as Governor Palin cannot afford to be outspent the way that John McCain has been. There’s just no sense in letting it happen when we don’t have to, its like starting a football game down 14-0, completely unacceptable. Granted, a lot of Obama’s money may have been raised via fraud, the Washington Post just had an interesting article about that recently, but even so he surely raised enough money legitimately to make the methods he used worth studying. It’s also worth noting that Hillary had an extremely effective Internet fundraising effort, and in the end it may be that hers is the model that Sarah should use for her own campaign, certainly it would be particularly good PR to say that she’s modeling her fundraising efforts after Hillary’s.

Of course there is much, much more for Governor Palin, as well as Conservatives in general, to focus on after this Election, but I want to close Part One of this series with the reminder that we still have 5 days until the Election, and everything will be so much nicer if John McCain is in the White House and Sarah Palin is running for President from Washington instead of Alaska. A lot is on the line, and we can all do more, so let’s get to it .

This idea came to me after seeing Dan recently on the Joe Scarborough morning show, it occured to me that Dan is fighting pretty hard to remain in any way relevant these days. I know most here probably still dislike him because of what he did to Bush in 2004, but he’s getting up there in years and I think he would jump at the chance to do something like this, to suddenly be the most relevant journalist in America again. And the public would watch because they still like and trust him (they certainly know hes no friend to Republicans after what he pulled in 2004), and no doubt they would expect him to ask tough but fair questions, which I believe he would do. If Sarah is able to stand up to a half hour of live, unedited, no area off limits, tough questioning it would put to rest once and for all the doubts that any fair minded person could have about her, and since those doubts are the only thing standing between McCain and victory at this point, a strong performance by Governor Palin with America watching should pretty much guarantee McCain the election. We know she’s capable of doing it, certainly she had one bad interview but that sure beats Biden by a MILE, its unclear whether he’s had more bad interviews or good ones at this point in the campaign . No doubt that she would do an excellent job fielding Dan’s tough questions, and it would truly be a historic evnet just days before Election Day, so maximum viewership would be assured.

I can’t overstate just how much something like this could help McCain win, and I hope they decide to do it. After she can beat Joe Biden like a government mule in their debate, answering Dan Rather’s questions should be a piece of cake for the Governor!

Normally, a Presidential campaign involves two candidates that aren’t well liked. This year however, both parties managed to nominate candidates who, despite their obvious shortcomings on the issues, are well liked personally. This was the year to run a much more positive, upbeat campaign, and when you must run negative ads make them the ‘fun’ kind, like the ‘Celebrity’ ad that worked so well because it was lighthearted and true. The ultra-negative personal attacks on Obama didnt work, and in this environment it should’ve been obvious that they couldn’t possibly work. Thats poor campaign strategy #1.

On a less serious, but not unimportant, note, another mistake the McCain campaign made was with their signs. I was out the other day helping to put up McCain signs, and afterward just riding around seeing the various signs around the area. The McCain and Obama signs are pretty much the same color, a good solid color no doubt, but McCain had MUCH better. Instead of a solid blue, how about reflecting his Running Mate by making his sign half blue and half pink? The top part that says McCain should’ve been blue, as it was, but the bottom half that says Palin should’ve been pink. It would’ve stood out, and re-emphasised the best part of the ticket, his running mate. Just one more opportunity missed.

Back to policy. In this time of economic crisis, McCain blew his economic credentials by not only supporting the socialist Bailout that the American People hated, but he did it in a manner that also made him look a bit nuts. Its hard to imagine how he possibly could’ve handed that whole situation any worse, and it allowed Obama to simply sit back, do nothing, supply absolutely no leadership whatsoever, basicly ‘vote present’ one more time, and come out of the whole thing smelling like a rose despite the fact that he too supported the bailout. But this election is ALL ABOUT the economy, because of the crisis. McCain needed SO badly to come out with some kind of major economic proposal to reassure the voters that while yes, he made a terrible mistake supporting that bailout, if you vote for him he will do much better in the future. Sadly, his first decision was to instead IGNORE the economy altogether and focus on Ayres, the worst timing possible for that move. Then he finally wised up after seeing his defecit climb even higher, gee what do you know the people seem to actually want to hear about the economy during an economic crisis? No doubt the Mccain Campaign officials were shocked by this revelation .

Having finally gotten the message however, do they make a major statement, announcing a one year suspension of the gas tax, the capital gains tax, all taxes on IRAs and 401ks, cool stuff like that? No sir, they make a couple super boring proposals that I can’t even remember right now and I’m paying WAY more attention to this race than the average person, Im guessing the average Joe Six Pack out there couldn’t tell you a single thing that McCain wants to do on the economy if elected. And why? Because what little he actually proposed isn’t even being promoted, instead he’s spending all his time going negative on Obama once again. At least its on the economy this time, but he’s making the incredible mistake of calling Obama’s proposal to cut taxes ’socialism’. If you’re going to attack his tax plan, you attack him for his tax INCReASES, not his tax CUTS, that is just insane. Granted they are going after his ’spread the wealth’ tax hike comments, and thats good, but instead of saying ‘Obama wont cut anybody’s taxes, he’s only going to raise taxes’ you still hear people making the insane argument that ‘Obama wants to cut taxes for 40% of Americans who dont pay any taxes, and thats socialism’. First, the idea that 40 percent of Americans dont pay taxes is insane, NO American doesn’t pay taxes, you couldnt escape them no matter how hard you tried. Granted many Americans dont pay FEDERAL INCOME taxes, but that isnt relevant, even if you dont pay federal income taxes you are still overtaxed in America and deserve a tax cut. Instead of saying ‘we agree every American needs a tax cut, and we will cut every American’s taxes, but Obama will raise taxes on all Americans to pay for his massive spending plans’, an argument that would be, you know, SANE, they instead attack the very idea of cutting taxes for the lower 40% of America. FORTY PERCENT of the country, just look at that from a purely political perspective. How can anybody in their right minds WILFULLY INSULT 40 percent of the voters, by saying to them that they dont deserve a tax cut, and that if they’re given one that amounts to WELFARE?? Im not sure whether thats better or worse than calling them racists, as Murtha did, but in either case its absolutely horrible and nobody in their right mind should be doing it.

So for all the mistakes he’s made, McCain is no doubt still in this race with a chance. So how does he finish the campaign on an up-note, win the vast majority of the late deciders as Hillary always did, and win this election for the good of America? Well, they’re on the right track with this whole ‘Joe the Plumber’ campaign, they definitely need to stick with that theme, but BROADEN IT to include not just attacks on Obama’s plan, but actually saying HERE IS HOW MY PLAN WILL HELP JOE THE PLUMBER. It would be so easy to put an ad up saying that Obama wants to raise taxes on Joe the Plumber, but I want to cut his taxes by (fill in the amount here), good hard numbers to show concrete proof of how a McCain administration would help folks like Joe. It is NOT, NOT, NOT enough just to attack Obama, you HAVE to show the folks how your plan will help them. This shouldn’t be a hard concept to grasp, but for the McCain campaign it certainly is.

Another thing they have to do is give Sarah Palin more opportunities to rebut the savage attacks by the liberal media. No doubt if not for those attacks McCain would probably be ahead right now. They need to do a half hour TV buy like Obama is doing, giving those 30 minutes to Sarah, promoting her record in Alaska, and letting her speak for herself to explain to the American People why she is in fact the MOST qualified of the four Presidential and VP candidates, and that Obama is by far the least qualified. Such a 30 minute buy would no doubt get more viewers than Obama’s will, and be MUCH more beneficial to the McCain campaign than Obama’s buy will be to his own.

Finally, the McCain campaign has two major issues that they are on the side of the VAST majority of Americans, and Obama is on the other side, and they should be used in the final ten days. The first is obvious, Drilling and Energy Independence. This is an economic issue and its a national security issue, Drill Baby Drill, how did this issue get dropped from the McCain playbook? Its such a winner, McCain and the Republicans support getting our own oil here, Democrats do not. Its simple, its effective. The other issue is one that somehow Obama has gotten a free pass on the ENTIRE campaign, I honestly don’t understand how it happened or why. His support of drivers liscenses for illegal immigrants is SUCH a devastatingly bad position, he took it in a futile effort to get the hispanic vote in the primaries, and now that issue should be houding him every single day of the general election campaign. Instead its not being mentioned at all, except in some independent ad I saw a week or so back, that they ran in Ohio I think. That would explain why McCain is doing better in Ohio than most of the other swing states, and it needs to be in EVERY swing state, this is a HUGE HUGE loser for Obama, and if there are to be any more negative ads by the McCain campaign that is the one issue they should focus on.

So there you have it, a formula for victory, even with only 10 days to go its not too late. Lets get out there and win this thing!

With thirty minutes of prime time, they would be able to start with a bit more detailed background on her accomplishements in Alaska, rooting out GOP corruption, cutting taxes and spending, taking on the big oil companies and giving 1200 dollars to every taxpayer in Alaska due to her massive budget surplus. Then go into some of the issues in this campaign, selling McCain in a way that he simply cannot, or will not, do himself. This will work better than anything McCain could do with 30 minutes simply because more people will watch her than will watch him. If done right, and theres no reason why it wouldn’t be, her numbers will go way up, leading to his numbers going up, and winning the election. I certainly hope the McCain campaign goes this route, instead of squandering the same amount of money on 30 second ads that won’t have nearly the same impact.

First, he should call for the elimination of the gas tax for one year. In the primaries McCain and Hillary both called for a gas tax holiday, one that was very popular among regular people, and even somewhat popular among Democrats. Instead of a brief holiday, this would be a year long tax break, so that during this recession the American People are able to get to where they need to be at a more reasonable price. Everyone who has to drive to work will love this proposal.

Second, Mccain should propose the elimination of the Capital Gains Tax for one year. This would do more than anything else to stimulate the economy, it would send a signal throughout the entire world that America is the place to put your money, we are the place to be during these troubled times. Obviously investors will love this, but all of America will love the unprecedented effect it will have on our economy.

Third, he should propose the elimination of all taxes on seniors taking their money out of IRAs and 401Ks for one year. I believe he called for a reduction in these taxes, and that can still be his long term plan, but in the short term that tax should go down to zero. Seniors have had their retirement savings HAMMERED in this brutal stock market environment, they don’t deserve to lose another penny to the tax man. This would be of enormous help to Seniors across America.

Finally, McCain must propose a bold and powerful change to the tax code itself. What better way to regain the trust of the American People, who WANT to trust John McCain but just can’t right now because of his bailout betrayal, than to call for the elimination of the agency they hate the most, the IRS? The Fair Tax is well known by Conservatives, who will be able to go on all the major TV and radio shows and explain the details to the American People so they can get behind this vastly superior tax system. Who doesn’t like the idea of keeping the money you earn?

McCain must eliminate all 30 second ads, all the attack ads, he must promote this four point economic plan with 60 and 120 second ads, in major speeches, and in web videos. It must be the focus of his campaign in every way. This is the economic plan that will convince the American People to trust him again on the economy, and win him the election.

When someone attacks Governor Palin on the Experience issue, you don’t meekly sit back and accept the attack, you counter-attack, first by pointing out the experience that she has and that its more than Obama has, and you DONT STOP THERE, the next part is KEY. You then do what Hillary Clinton’s supporters would do, and will appreciate greatly. You ask them why they’re holding a woman to a higher standard than a man. Let me repeat this, and I’m going to put it in bold text, because I want to make sure everybody understands this, this is the single most important talking point that anyone can use when discussing the Governor’s experience. You MUST POINT OUT THAT THEY ARE HOLDING A WOMAN TO A HIGHER STANDARD THAN A MAN. This is how you win the argument in the most effective, and delicious, way possible. Also, if you like, bring up the Hillary talking point that her campaign was the victim of sexism in the media, and that it is now being practiced against Governor Palin.

These points are effective, and TRUE. There really is no doubt in my mind that a man with all of Governor Palin’s experience and accomplishments would not be treated by the media as ‘inexperienced’ the way she has been. Its really an absurd charge on its face, and if she were a man people would just laugh at it. When you’ve got 12 years of Executive Experience, when you’ve taken on major corrupt leaders of your own party and defeated them, when you’ve balanced budgets and taken on major special interests and given huge rebates from your budget surpluss to your citizens, when you’re the most popular Governor in America, for someone to say that person is ‘inexperienced’ is for them to make a fool of themselves, and we need to make sure that they always look that way, the way they deserve to look, by using nothing less than the most effective arguments possible against these rediculous attacks.

So let me say this one more time, because I honestly believe its that important. When discussing Governor Palin’s experience, please don’t fail to mention, after you explain that she has more experience than Obama, that she, as a woman, is being held to a higher standard than a man. This argument is far too powerful, far too accurate, and far too important, to ever pass up.

The arrogance of Washington, it seems, is such that if they don’t know you, what there is to know about you simply isnt worth knowing. Therefore since they’d never heard of her, and she’s a woman, whatever she’s done must not be worth knowing about, therefore she’s inexperienced, unqualified, risky, etc. Its amazing the arrogance of ignorance.

If they had bothered doing the research that I, and no doubt many of you, had done already, maybe MONTHS ago even, they would know that she has tremendous experience, and is a Reformer with Results. She doesnt just talk about reform, she achieves it. She doesnt just talk about putting Government’s fiscal house in order, she does it. She doesn’t just talk about fighting corruption within her own party, she gets results. She’s accomplished so much more than Obama that it is a complete embarassment to ‘the one’. Yet, because she has accomplished all this in Alaska instead of, say, California, the media never really cared and so now most people still don’t know her awesome record of experience and results. It is up to the Mccain Campaign to educate the people of America about the Governor’s incredible record, they can’t count on Washington talking heads to do it for them, in fact much of Washington seems willing and able to throw up as big a smokescreen over that record as possible.

The fact is that this election will be determined, to a large degree, by the disaffected Clinton Democrats and Independent Women, and Governor Palin’s appeal to those groups is unmatched, and for that reason to NOT pick her would’ve been the risky choice, because McCain would’ve been risking needlessly losing those key groups, that with her he can definitely win. I hope in the days to come we’ll see some TV ads touting Governor Palin’s record and experience, that the McCain surrogates will really get out there and talk about it, and that the Governor herself will make the rounds on the major Sunday shows to communicate her story. The outcome of this election depends on her story being known by the American people. If they know her as well as we know her, there is no doubt that McCain-Palin will be a winning ticket in November.

Another important aspect of this decision, in the wake of tonight’s speech (and probably tomorrow’s night speech will have a familiar theme in this regard), the Democrats are saying ‘McCain is more of the same’. Imagine this, you’ve just heard days worth of ‘McCain is more of the same’ and you’re just starting to think maybe its true, simply because you’ve heard it so much. Suddenly, you hear McCain’s choice for a running mate. Right then and there, John will probably either prove them RIGHT, or prove them WRONG. If McCain picks Romney, Pawlenty, or some other ‘boring white guy’ as it were, then probaly that swing voter will think ‘They were right, McCain really is more of the same’, and he might lose that voter forever. However, if McCain picks a woman as his running mate, he will have PROVEN, quite decisively I might add, that all the attacks, all week long, about him being ‘more of the same’ were completely wrong. He will have neutralized the attacks in one powerful move. He will have huge momentum going into his Convention, and will almost certainly get a huge bounce, and go on to win the Election.

I think most people here would agree that Governor Sarah Palin is the best woman out of all the ones that John could pick, but the bottom line is that he’d better pick a woman, whoever it is, or he’s probably going to do the work of the Democrats for them, confirming for the undecided voters that indeed ‘McCain is more of the same’. Thats the last thing in the world we can afford to have happen. We need this pick to be a Home Run, so we can win this election. He’s had months to make this decision, if he screws this up he won’t have anybody to blame but himself. Hopefully he will get it right.

The other point he made is more relevant to what comes next. He pointed out that now, with Obama having picked Biden instead of Hillary, that McCain should no longer consider any male candidates for his running mate, because the opportunity this provides McCain is too huge to waste, that he MUST pick a woman, because if he does so he can win the womens vote, and the election. This is a golden opportunity that cannot be passed up.

I believe its fair to say that even aside from the womens vote, Governor Palin is the best choice, because of all the other things she brings to the ticket. The ANWR/energy issue, the fighting corruption issue, even the youth and ‘change’ issue. Still, as important as all those issues are, the fact that she will bring McCain the womens vote is probably the single most important thing she will do for the Ticket, as no Democrat can get elected without winning the Womens vote, and winning it decisively. The Obama-loving media are gleeful that they THINK McCain has alrady decided on a guy that Independent Voters have rejected once and will do so again, this time taking McCain down with him. I’m hopeful that McCain is smarter than that, that he realizes what Dick Morris, myself, and lots of others who are paying attention realize, that there is no reason to make a pick that turns off Independents and Democrats just to fire up the base, when you can make a pick that fires up the base AND appeals to Independents as well as Hillary supporting Democrats. That choice is the most effective and popular Govenror in America, Governor Sarah Palin.

The poll is further evidence that the right choice for John McCain’s running mate is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. There were already many reasons why she was the best choice. She is a solid Conservative, maybe the most popular Governor in America, she helps him with the ANWR/Oil Drilling issue which will be a HUGE issue in the fall, and of course she capitalizes on Obama’s ‘Hillary Problem’, by bringing the Womens Vote. For all of those reasons she was already clearly the best choice of all the major candidates under consideration, but now we have to add one more, her ability to carry Alaska. Nobody would’ve thought before this campaign began that Alaska could even be a factor, its traditionally one of the reddest states in America after all. But due to the massive amount of GOP corruption in the state, highlighted most recently by ‘Uncle Ted’, the political atmosphere in Alaska is highly toxic to the GOP, and while its true that there are only 3 Electoral Votes at stake, the fact is that in 2000 if Bush had lost Alaska, he wouldnt have been President. Thats how close these elections can be, it really does mean something now that Sarah Palin can shore up the once ultra-safe Alaska.

Also, its worth noting that in light of Hillary’s recent pwning of Obama in the Democratic Convention Negotiations, that Convention will do even more to highlight Obama’s ‘womens vote’ problem, which will enable Governor Palin to even more effectively bring the Womens vote to John McCain. The whole ‘You can still vote for a woman and make History!’ thing will be pretty powerful indeed.

For all those reasons, my vote is for Governor Sarah Palin for Veep!