If you follow Rush Limbaugh, there was a female caller named Angela three days ago who claimed to be a conservative from Virginia and went on and on why she could not support Sarah Palin in the GOP primary season.
On many blogs posters ridiculed and slammed her for her comments but what many people missed was this one short line:
“If the conservatives put Sarah Palin up against Barack Obama, I would vote for Sarah Palin...”
You would have thought by the tone of her voice that this woman would have decided to vote for Obama or 3rd party rather than Palin.
Imho there are millions of Angela’s out there who don’t particularly like Palin or consider her their cup of tea but cannot bring themselves to vote for Obama but instead very reluctantly vote for the party nominee.
This is why Palin will win. In this case I’d rather have the devil I don’t know than the devil I do know.
You are missing the femme factor there, too. Just as blacks who might not like Obama voted for the brother, women may well be swayed to vote for a woman if for no other reason. Hillary may mount a primary challenge against Obama counting on a similar phenomenon.