Bringing The Base
Byron York at NRO details a McCain/Palin rally in Northern Virginia today. It sounds as if it was impressive, indeed:
When McCain and running mate Sarah Palin appeared this morning at Van Dyck Park, in the city of Fairfax, Virginia, the people spilled out of the natural amphitheater, over the sides, out the back, and nearly all the way to the Old Lee Highway. The rally had originally been scheduled for Fairfax High School, but some school board members objected. With controversy brewing, the McCain campaign moved the event to the park. It was a good idea; the high school facility could handle 6,500 people, which would have been a huge crowd in pre-Palin days. But today, the school wouldn’t have been nearly big enough. After the rally, McCain officials told me 23,000 people had been there. Even if that estimate was a little high, it was still McCain’s biggest rally ever — and that, at mid-morning, on a weekday……
…..And that depends entirely on enthusiasm, which, at least for the moment, depends a great deal on Sarah Palin. After the rally, I put a brief item in The Corner, remarking on the size of the crowd. I began to get a lot of emails from people who had also been there. Many of them confessed previous disenchantment with McCain, or the Republican party, or both. But no longer. “In the space of a week,” one woman wrote, “I went from vowing to disengage myself from the general election to volunteering for McCain and sitting in an hour of traffic just to hear Palin speak.” If she still feels that way on November 4, McCain just might win.
Read the whole thing. Palin came across as knowing - really knowing - energy. That’s a strong, strong plus in this of all years. More importantly, she’s bring the base to life, energizing them and giving them hope. That means one thing:
Ground game.
If Sarah Palin is the key that brings the engine of the Republican ground game to life, Obama’s in real trouble. It doesn’t really help when Joe Biden admits he was the wrong choice for VP, or when Obama’s numbers have actually begun to slide in the Gallup daily.
By the way, don’t expect Obama to get Hillary to join him on the ticket. That bridge is burned and Hillary has to be seeing a chance for herself in 2012 right now. And she HAS to be laughing at Obama’s plight right about now.
By martian, Thursday, 11 September , 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Shooting oneself in the foot seems to be a knack of the Democrats. Bidet, er, Biden stating that Hillary is just as qualified if not more qualified than him to be Pres. or VP and might have been a better pick than him plays directly into McCain’s biggest criticism of the Obamessiah - that he lacks good judgement. Here is his own running mate suggesting his judgement was flawed in that choice. Is Biden going to be limping the rest of the week from that foot wound?
As for Hillary, she is preparing for a 2012 run regardless of who wins this election. If McCain wins, she will be a legitimate oposition party choice and can run on the “I told you so!” platform. If the Obamessiah wins, I strongly suspect that she and Bill are convinced that his administration will be such a complete failure (there’s no tele-prompter for how to do the job) that she can run as the savior of the Democratic Party and the only oerson in that party who might be able to beat a Republican candidate after the failure of a Democratic administration.
By Americaneocon, Thursday, 11 September , 2008 @ 1:09 pm
I saw York on Fox last night and he was calm but forceful in making the case for GOP enthusiasm. People I talk to are now more excited about McCain than ever…