The Perils of Palin

You have to admit, Sarah Palin's name lends itself naturally to interesting wordplay. She wowed the faithful in her acceptance speech at the Republican convention on Wednesday evening. If you want a gauge of the impression she made, go now further than this Mother Jones Seal of Approval. Mother Jones is certified genuine left-wing article and so you know that David Corn is trying to wake up the largely somnolent Democrats who have assumed that Palin's pick was a disaster for the elephants. Compare that story to this nonsense in the NYT from Timothy Egan. This is basically pablum for the "anointed". Egan is the quintessential Obama follower - an arrogant, upper-middle class elitist who represents that new, upcoming brand of Democrat whose aim is to make sure the world is run by and for the deserving, namely those with the combination of advanced degrees and the "right" values.

Anyway, there were a few state polls, one or two new national polls, plus the two tracking polls to deal with today. They suggested a slight narrowing of Obama's lead at the national level to two percentage points; the Electoral College figures remain unchanged at 304-234 in Obama's favor. However, I just wouldn't put very much into this shift today as a number of state level polls have fallen out of the model over the past several days. The first real impact of Palin's speech should make itself apparent over the next 48 hours and, with McCain's speech on Thursday evening, the amount of bounce for the Republicans will become clear by the weekend or early next week.