Posted on 12/18/2008 12:08:30 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Former John McCain pollster Bill McInturff said Thursday that in a potential 2012 GOP primary, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would have a leg up on her rivals because she is “well-suited” to campaign in Iowa.
McInturff pointed to the fact that despite a bruising presidential campaign, Palin’s favorability ratings among Republican voters is still extremely high. While Palin comes with some baggage among the general electorate, for Iowa, where former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee successfully drew a large number of social conservatives to his winning bid, she has strong prospects.
“She’s a candidate that would be well-suited to doing well in Iowa,” McInturff told reporters at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. He conceded that Palin creates “a sharply different reaction with swing voters and core primary voters” but said the latter “are not anywhere close to the center.”
If Palin is weighing a potential run, McInturff said that difference and the advantage it gives here is something she is keenly aware of. “She has a very strong political instinct,” he said. “She has a sharp and calculated instinct.”
Reflecting back on the presidential campaign, the pollster said that the McCain campaign had a brief window where they believed victory over President-elect Barack Obama was possible. But that hope was dashed when the campaign’s back was broken by the financial crisis.
“If we had to collapse America’s economy, I wish it had been on Dec. 15 instead of Sept. 15,” he said. Leading up to the financial crisis, he said, the campaign was prepared to launch an offensive to exploit the lingering uncertainties voters had about Obama, but that when the markets crashed, “You didn’t have a presidential campaign anymore, you just had the two campaigns reacting to this.”
“People had substantial and serious concerns about this guy,” McInturff said of Obama. “But if you give people a choice between a proven failure and an uncertain future, they will always choose the uncertain future,” he added, referring to the contrast between Obama and the damaged GOP brand.
The pollster also said the crisis changed McCain’s normal instincts as he tried to demonstrate a presidential level of leadership. For instance, he said, “If John McCain was just a U.S. senator, I cannot imagine him supporting the bailout. . . But you’re not going to be a senator, you are going to be president of the United States.”
Even after the financial crisis, McInturff said the Arizona senator was still within striking distance of Obama until former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed the Democrat. “We had three days where after the Powell endorsement the bottom just fell out,” he said.
Early into the afternoon on Election Day, McInturff said the McCain campaign knew that Obama’s victory was imminent as it read exit poll data. He said, though, that nobody was mourning the loss like they were “sappy volunteers.”
“Your job is to fight like hell, even if you’re getting beat with a baseball bat on the way out,” McInturff said.
LLS
Obama had the press shilling for him and it was the "in" thing to do to vote for Obama.
You're giving the average Obama voter too much credit for know what they were doing.
They're a bunch of idiots and they don't know much of anything. They still think Obama is a savior.
Would McCain gotten more votes if he had taken a stand against the bailout? I don't know and neither does anyone else.
Huck’s son tortured and killed a sick dog? That’s DISGUSTING!
He should have been in jail.
Palin has genuine sincerity, which is sorely lacking in Huckabee, IMO. She’s a woman of faith who LIVES her faith, and doesn’t just use Christian “buzz words” as a ploy to hoodwink the faithful like I believe Huck did. I also believe she has a broader appeal to fiscal conservatives and people who like politicians with integrity. I have relatives/friends who liked Huckabee a lot though, so maybe he’s not finished yet. I would be surprised if Sarah doesn’t win over a majority of Huck supporters. I just hope it’s not divided enough to give give the win to a moderate again.
I think you’re right, if all the talk-show hosts can unite instead of being so fractured, maybe it will help conservatives consolidate behind one good candidate.
I caught wind of that sometime ago, sick b*****d! Then daddy Mitt is a party to that perversion by shielding his sick in the head kid. I've seen that kind before, no kidding.
In a small town in Texas, we discovered a Chief of Police that used to...well, never mind, it's too sick to relate (torturing of animals for sadistic pleasure). I wish I could say that he was fired, prosecuted and hanged the next day but he beat the rap. Yep, sometimes life will puzzle you but don't give up.
Mark my words, Palin will never win the Presidency.
And then sailed back out to NOLA and told the watching world what his stand was. The problem was, he didn't know what the heck to do, and didn't have a stand, so he turned back into a weaselly senator and went along with the flow. He blew his chance of a lifetime in about 48 hours of dithering incompetence.
LLS
I agree... and there are some sickos around us... but then satan is quite active.
LLS
“Palin ‘well suited’ for Iowa (2012)”
Forget Iowa. Front-load the deepest red states. If you are in a state that goes blue 90% ofthe time, you ought not be selecting the GOP front-runner.
First up, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska and Idaho.
“and charm the pants off of every red blooded American man in the state.”
Well, the straight ones anyway.
I like Huck. Enjoy his TV show. Think he’d be a great infortainment personality. Hate him as a presidential candidate.
We need to see more of the stern Sarah, the one who cuts budgets and fires department heads. She was trying a little too hard to be charming to everyone.
“Then daddy Mitt is a party to that perversion”
It was Huckafraud, not Mitt-flopper.
John McCain brought us Sarah Palin, in a way.
That alone, might just be enough to make up for the rest of his mis-steps.
How about from here on, every Sarah thread should be liberally sprinkled with prototypes of “Sarah 2012” bumper sticker images, so FReepers can start putting the message out there?
There’s one I saw already - anyone else have a good Palin 2012 bumper sticker yet?
I imagine they’ll sell, already.
Ah, 10-4, thanks for clarifying that.
Exactamundo, he was the big equivocating weasel we all secretly knew he was.
Why ?
In my opinion Palin doesn't have what it takes to inspire a broad enough coalition of voters. Yeah, she can rile up the base but she doesn't know how to make conservative principles appealing to moderates and crossovers - or even moderate republicans.
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