“only political junkies actually watch the VP debate anyway.”
I agree.
While it would be nice if most voters were swayed by experience, logic, and excellent debating skills - that clearly isn’t the case.
There is an emotional element, and image is important.
The “image” of a young conservative, pro-life, pro energy independent woman on the ticket?
That’s a winner.
If voters were concerned about experience, then Hillary and Obama woudn’t have gotten so far.
““only political junkies actually watch the VP debate anyway.”
I agree.
While it would be nice if most voters were swayed by experience, logic, and excellent debating skills - that clearly isn’t the case.
There is an emotional element, and image is important.
The “image” of a young conservative, pro-life, pro energy independent woman on the ticket?
That’s a winner.
If voters were concerned about experience, then Hillary and Obama woudn’t have gotten so far.”
We’ll have to agree to disagree.
I don’t think it is so much experience that is necessary as it it is performance. And the performance we need, in my view, comes down to two important facets. The VP candidate must:
1) Have a very good grasp of the issues so that he/she can respond instantly and credibly to democratic attacks and hostile questions from the media. It doens’t matter as much to me that Romney has changed positions. I think it is more important that the VP candidate he be able to put the democrats and the media in their place quickly and decisively when necessary.
2) Must be able to win the debate. I think undecideds will watch the debate. Most undecideds in my view are heavily influenced by the debate performance and less so by past positions. Since they are less engaged, they tend to believe what the candidates are saying today, if it is said well and convincingly.
I readily admit that Romney is not ideal. The bottom line for me is that I think Romney will kick ass between now and the election and I am not sure about Palin. I am more concerned about what the VP nominee is able to actually do between now and November and less about ideal suitability. The reason I think that way is that I think performance between now and November is more important if we want to win. And the ultimate goal is to stop Obama.