i can assure you that Palin brought in more than votes - she brought in the volunteers and the cash. When you look at her 3 stops a day in the final 4 weeks of the campaign, you would've seen 5-25k in attendance every time. I saw McCain on a Monday in Kettering, OH (near Dayton) and he barely had 2k - and that was mostly school kids who got to cut class to see him (event was at a school). Then the following Wednesday, saw Palin in Chillicothe, OH (middle of nowhere) it was 35 degrees outside and I was one of the 5000 people standing outside to see her in the cold.
Volunteer numbers pre-Palin were abysmal. When Palin came along, the diehard volunteers showed up - homeschoolers, pro-lifers, and former military. See for as much as Republicans like to bash the social conservatives, they wouldn't have a party without them, as they are the fuel to the grassroots that elects Republicans all up and down the ballot.
Yup, what people don’t understand is that the base is what gets you the middle.
The middle are the people who don’t pay attention. So you need to work extra hard to reach them, that means phone calls, that means canvassing, that means making sure they actually vote on election day, that means TV and Radio ads.
All of those things require people who are passionate about you winning, so much so they give you their hard earned money, and take large chunks of time out of their life, to help you make it happen. That kind of passion comes from the base. The base doesn’t just vote for you, they do the dirty work to get your the moderates.
McCain didn’t have the base’s support, that’s why he had no money and a poor organization. Palin come in too late to save McCain. But she still saved him for the humiliation of going down in Mondalesque fashion.
She's absolutely the only reason they got cash from me this year.
I can assure you that Palin brought in more than votes - she brought in the volunteers and the cash. When you look at her 3 stops a day in the final 4 weeks of the campaign, you would've seen 5-25k in attendance every time. I saw McCain on a Monday in Kettering, OH (near Dayton) and he barely had 2k - and that was mostly school kids who got to cut class to see him (event was at a school). Then the following Wednesday, saw Palin in Chillicothe, OH (middle of nowhere) it was 35 degrees outside and I was one of the 5000 people standing outside to see her in the cold.
Volunteer numbers pre-Palin were abysmal. When Palin came along, the diehard volunteers showed up - homeschoolers, pro-lifers, and former military. See for as much as Republicans like to bash the social conservatives, they wouldn't have a party without them, as they are the fuel to the grassroots that elects Republicans all up and down the ballot.
Yes the same thing happened in CA - volunteers came in droves after Palin came along. And donations starting pouring in. Prior to Palin, NOTHING.
McCain NEVER ever attracted huge crowds - until Palin came on the scene - then crowds EXPLODED.