| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Beware the Barracuda, Sarah Palin could be an elusive target for Democrats. |
| 2008-09-07 |
| Republican—was to do a series of swing-state events with John McCain, record the campaign's regular weekend radio address and then go home. "We kind of shanghaied her out of Alaska," Steve Schmidt, the McCain-Palin campaign manager, told me. "She needs to go back for a few days." There are personal reasons. Her son is shipping off for Iraq. With a newborn of her own, a pregnant daughter and a state to run, "Sarah Barracuda" has to get her affairs in order. But there are political reasons, too. She needs time to study McCain's views and bone up on foreign policy before debating Joe Biden. At home she can more easily avoid interrogation by GOP enemy No. 1, the media. And by hunkering down in Alaska, she's also less visible to Barack Obama's campaign and its allies. The moose hunter of the North, Palin is now the hunted one. She's an elusive target. Her home state is a tougher political racetrack than Lower 48 pundits appreciate, and she has a respectable approval rating there. GOP delegates in St. Paul fell in love with her, and they form a bulwark to protect her if she trips up. Her stage skills are obvious, her charisma electric, her freshness an advantage. She delivered her barb-filled acceptance speech with what David Axelrod, Obama's campaign manager, told me was "snide efficiency." And as a woman and the mother of five, Palin is an opponent whom male rivals need to be careful about attacking. Still, Democrats dare not issue Palin a pass—she's too dangerous a foe. Normally vice presidential candidates fade into the background. Nobody is expecting that with Palin; indeed, her newfound celebrity has made even Obama look dull. The usual rule is that voters don't trust attacks from people they don't know, but Palin is turning the adage on its head. Democrats are determined to attack her credibility, even if it gives her more visibility. "We've got to go after her, and fast," a top Democratic strategist, who asked for anonymity when discussing strategy, told me. The first—and for Democrats, the most obvious—way to do so is on abortion. Palin doesn't believe in abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Pro-choice advocates concede her sincerity (she gave birth to a baby she knew was a Down-syndrome child), but are planning an extensive independent ad campaign aimed at women in swing states. Democrats have been racing to put boots on the ground in Alaska—prospectors looking not for gold, but ammunition. Among the findings: as mayor, the proudly antitax, anti-spending Palin won a hike in the sales tax to pay for a sports complex—a facility that left Wasilla with a sizable debt. Running for governor, she supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" before, as governor, deciding it was a nonstarter. And as governor, she has used vetoes and budgets to cut spending on health, education and social services. The real task of hunting Palin belongs to Biden, who will meet her in St. Louis for a 90-minute debate. The first-blush assumption that she would be overmatched faded the moment she finished speaking in St. Paul, and Biden's friends and advisers express concern about the delicacy of his task. Biden is as deeply informed on the issues as any member of the Senate, but he has a tendency to want to prove it at length. "He has to be careful not to come off as heavy-handed," a friend of Biden's, who's not authorized to speak publicly about the campaign, told me. "He has to push back, but in a careful way." The Democrats have to score against the hockey mom—without tripping on the ice. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #16 I agree with you completely, Blondie. Besides why should the dems even care where Obama stands on this issue? He said the abortion issue was above his pay-grade. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-07 23:54 |
| #15 They're going to bring up Roe v Wade? It's a path they REALLY don't want to go down, IMHO. I know lots of people who consider themselves pro-choice who are absolutely disgusted by Obama's vote on "Born Alive", his idea that a baby is "punishment", and that too-clever remark about it all being above his pay grade. I don't know if I can speak for all the women here on the 'burg, but dammit....I am sick to death of abortion being the one and only "women's issue" that the Dems think about when they think about females. (Insert Howard Dean scream here.) |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields 2008-09-07 23:47 |
| #14 My guess is that the media attacks and slanders against her are going to grant her an immunity from attack in the future that will rival the Clintons and Obama for the foreseeable future. I've been wondering about that for a few days now. Had the media spun up semi-legitimate attacks that would have been one thing but going so hard and so fast after her family would, I think, tend to cause folks to dismiss attacks against her in the near future as more of the same. I hope that's not just wishful thinking on our part. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-09-07 23:08 |
| #13 Her shield and strength is that she is not beholden to any 'machine' in any state. If, as seems highly unlikely at this point, she and McCain fail in their mission she can still return a hero to Alaska. My guess is that the media attacks and slanders against her are going to grant her an immunity from attack in the future that will rival the Clintons and Obama for the foreseeable future. |
| Posted by: DanNY 2008-09-07 22:10 |
| #12 Richaard, she knew what she was in for. She saw waht the chcago machine did to Hillary, and knew it would be far worse for her. Especially since she is a reformer, a true one, that trheatens tons of entrenched power on both sides of the aisle. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-09-07 20:52 |
| #11 All the Rabid Dems have for an issue is abortion. There are other issues out there that have a more immediate priority for the country, though you would never know it from listening to these nutcases. Classic narcissism. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-09-07 18:27 |
| #10 I'm sure she knew that she would be the diversion for McCain. That she would be the lightening rod for most of the vicous attacks. Either she is very stupid or very courageous. I'm hoping the latter. Attacks on her personal life, her stand on abortion, or her gender are going to backfire with the general population. People at the top on the Democratic side know that, but can they stop it? I think not. They need to focus on John and try to draw as little attention to her as possible. Her job is to attack the Dem Presidental candidate. Remember, you can tell her from the bull dog by the glasses, hairdo, and lipstick. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-09-07 18:16 |
| #9 Actually, Roe v Wade was a huge overreach by the SC. It should be decided by the states. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-09-07 18:13 |
| #8 There was an interesting poll discussed a couple of weeks ago that, IIRC, found only 3% of women in swing states saw abortion as the most important issue. While it's not a non-issue it certainly garners outsized attention in comparison to its electoral importance. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-09-07 18:06 |
| #7 Yes, but everyone knows who nominates Supreme Court justices. That's the reason that the entire process has become politicized and nasty. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-07 17:09 |
| #6 Given the large portion of Catholic voters (hispanic and otherwise) in Colorado, it may backfire. Palin's position is completely in line with the Catholic Church. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-09-07 17:09 |
| #5 The president can't do anything about Roe v. Wade, anyway. It's a matter for Congress and the Supreme Court. Anybody who took Civics in elementary school knows that. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-07 16:58 |
| #4 IIRC, the pro-life position has a 4% generic ballot advantage--all other things being equal, the pro-life vote outnumbers the pro-abort vote by 4 points. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-09-07 16:58 |
| #3 The Roe v Wade cuts both way. Turned out the Hispanic Catholic vote in Northern New Mexico enough one election cycle to overwhelm the blue enclaves of Santa Fe and Taos to bump Congressman Udall (D-NM) for a term. Since then, the Donks have been very quiet about the point there. Now he's running for the vacated Senate seat. So, sure, make it an issue. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-07 16:50 |
| #2 With a congress destined to be Democrat the abortion issue isn't gonna change for awhile. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-07 16:26 |
| #1 They've already started the radio commercials in Colorado, dont know if they will be effective, they just harp on Roe V Wade, and that McCain and Palin wnat it overturned and therefore (falsely) concluding electing them will take away a woman's "right" to an abortion. It probably plays well to the pro-abortion crowd, but I doubt it does much in the middle, and on the right, it will fire them up bigtime. It will make the Obama campaign vulnerable to he "punished with a baby" stuff. From the religious standpoint, the extramarital sex was a sin, but the pregancy is not. There is nothing inherently sinful in being pregnant, but there is something inherent sinful in artifically terminating a pregancy and taking an innocent life. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-09-07 16:15 |