[Mr. Know It All]

I think she could survive a loss because I think McCain going down could hardly be blamed on her. Sarah Palin is really the only reason McCain has a fighting chance.

Yes and no. Palin has rallied the base, but there is evidence that after the initial honeymoon, she alienated voting segments that McCain desperately needed to win. Of course, this is based on the hotly-disputed polls, but if McCain loses, expect them to be waved about by people looking to blame somebody.

Assuming that a defeated Palin would return to Alaksa for another term or two of Governorship, she could easily run for Senate. After that, the unpleasant memories of the 2008 campaign may have faded enough for her to be a real superstar candidate. I can't blame her for taking this fast-track opportunity, but it may make her too toxic for 2012. We'll see.

I apologize if this article has been referenced already. I just read it tonight.

I don't think this particular article had been posted, but the message of "polls bad, we're gonna lose bad," has been. I'm not accusing you of any malice or wrongdoing (remember, I'm a much worse "troll"); you just hit a rather raw nerve.

There's also a split about bad news. Too little, and people get complacent. Too much, and people get dispirited. My message is: don't worry about winning or losing, just vote and get others to vote. The only wasted vote is a vote not cast. If I was going to vote for the guy I think will win, I'd vote for Obama — but that's not why I vote. I vote to support policies I agree with, whether or not my party wins.

We won't know whether we win or lose until Nov 4th, though. Until then, we just need to worry about getting out the vote.

[St. Louis Conservative]

I think the “blame game” that you’re talking about will come largely from people in the MSM, and (some say so-called) conservative columnists like David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, David Frum, and others. I don’t see these individuals being given much credence to the base, and I just flat out don’t believe that there are voters out there that were voting for McCain and flipped because of Palin.

I think the fav/unfav poll numbers are driven by the MSM. They run every trivial little piece of gossip-rag hit piece to try and trash and smear her for weeks, and then they run polls. Then they run stories on the poll results, and the cycle repeats itself.

We’re getting WAY ahead of ourselves, but I think Sarah Palin would be in fine shape for a future run, should she want to.