Palin is the secret weapon... beacuse she’s a CONSERVATIVE who energized the CONSERVATIVE base. McCain has resurfaced with his tired liberal platitudes, and has once again depressed the base.
Ditto for the “independents”. Ask where most of them stand on the issues (and I mean registerede independents, not the liberals that call into Rush who identify themselves as independent), and they fall on the conservative side. McCain is driving them away, as well.
It all comes down to which side can motivate the most people to show up at the polls. There's only so much that Knock and Drag tactics can accomplish.