Do you really think someone more conservative would have won this election? The deck was stacked against any R running—I’m amazed it was as close as it was. If Hillary had run, it would have been a bigger margin of victory. Obama was a great campaigner, but a horrible candidate. Bush was a millstone around any Republican’s neck, that’s the main reason Obama won. That and the fact that we truly wanted to get past race and elect a black president.
Not that electing Obama will get us past race, but that was the hope among many.
I know from personal experience that lots of potential McCain voters turned away because of Palin. I know overall she was a boost, but around philly, she was a negative. And I love her. I wrote an opinion piece for the paper trying to unravel the negative views of her, I was so frustrated at the level of animosity.
"You can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself." Or in this case more than you displease. That she did.