No, we don’t need a moderate nominee. And I’d happily vote for Sarah. But she’s not especially liked amongst the moderates I know and that issue would have to be seriously addressed. Not to mention that the republicans who hate Sarah would probably blow the entire election. They hate her worse than the libs. It ain’t fair but I’ve never seen such levels of hate for a person who has really done absolutely nothing to deserve it. BDS was mild compared to PDS. Maybe it’s a new psychiatric disorder.
This will all come down to the campaign. If Gov. Palin is as good a campaigner as I think she is, the “moderate” Republican voter will turn out to some degree while the Conservative Republican voter would turn out in massive numbers.
Your point about the establishment Republicans is dead on and would be her biggest obstacle.
I think most of that would change if she ends up the nominee. It will mean she’s successfully gone through a whole campaign, a whole bunch of debates, a whole bunch of forums, speeches, a whole bunch of rallies, unveiled a whoel set of policies, etc... And through it all emerged on top of all the other contenders.
If that happens, by the time she wins the nomination and gets to the convention people will see her differently. They’ll see her more as a serious candidate with serious ideas and will have been used to seeing her campaign for a year or more. She’ll have a more moderate VP that will bring people on board.
So, if she does get the nomination, it will mean that things will be very different than they are today.