....Sarah Palin:

This is from Tom Edsall, a well-known and respected national reporter,
writing for the Huffington Post:



The more voters learn about Sarah Palin, the more wary they become. Once
the focus of post-convention Republican euphoria, the Alaska Governor is
now viewed as a serious liability to the McCain campaign.

As it stands, Palin's polling numbers are daunting: with the unfolding
economic crisis, her favorable to unfavorable ratings have switched from
a positive 40-30, according to a September 12-16 New York Times survey,
to a negative 32-41 in an October 10-13 survey.

Palin is, additionally, costing McCain newspaper endorsements. Editor
and Publisher calculated that as of Oct 18, Barack Obama led McCain
58-16 in the competition for the backing of newspapers. Many of the
endorsements cited Palin as a factor in their rejection of McCain. The
Salt Lake Tribune, which supported George W. Bush in 2004, commented
that "out of nowhere, and without proper vetting, the impetuous McCain
picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. She quickly proved
grievously under-equipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at
72 and with a history of health problems, die in office. More than any
single factor, McCain's bad judgment in choosing the inarticulate,
insular and ethically challenged Palin disqualifies him for the
presidency." The Kansas City Star, in turn, described Palin as
"unqualified."

Brookings Senior Fellow Thomas Mann told the Huffington Post that
initially, Palin both built conservative enthusiasm for McCain and drew
widespread interest among voters who had not been closely following the
race. But those benefits soon evanesced:

"Within weeks, she became a liability, primarily as a highly visible
indicator of McCain's impulsiveness and recklessness in picking someone
who is patently unqualified to serve as president and
commander-in-chief. McCain's only chance of making this election
competitive was to contrast his readiness to serve with Obama's
inexperience and naiveté. The Palin choice was the first clear sign
(others followed) that McCain could not win that comparison."

Norman Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute, agrees about the
immediate gains, noting that the "short term boost dissipated awfully
quickly. Palin's clear lack of capability to serve as VP, much less as
president, her lack of knowledge of even basics about most areas of
policy, her ethical problems in Alaska over Troopergate, and the
campaign decision to cloister her from serious scrutiny, all caused a
drop in her own approval, but also reflected on McCain's decision-making
style." Palin continues to "generate enthusiasm from hard-core
Republicans who would not be as charged-up if the running mate were,
say, a [Mitt] Romney or [Tim] Pawlenty," Ornstein says, "but the
downside is definitely greater than the gain."