Sarah Palin’s Time in the Spotlight is Up
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Since Sarah Palin joined the Republican ticket as John McCain’s vice-presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has helped pack rallies and captured imaginations with her image as a working mom of five, and a reformer taking on Washington
Most important, the choice of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, has allowed John McCain to try to claim the mantle of “change,” and to try to distance himself from President George Bush. The McCain campaign has painted Sarah Palin as a reformer in the state of Alaska and stressed instances in which he strayed from GOP Republican orthodoxy during his Senate career, such as pushing limits on campaign finance.
By the end of the week, Democratic nominee Barack Obama was stressing his plans for the economy and vowing to hit back against Republican attacks, looking to take back the campaign narrative – and to blunt Sarah-mania.
“She has stolen the show and gotten Obama off message,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Analysts caution that Sarah Palin’s ride could get bumpier. She has been sheltered by the John McCain campaign, performing with a script to friendly crowds in friendly states, but she will eventually emerge to face voters and the news media on her own.
Sarah Palin had her first serious interview late last week with ABC News, during which she contradicted her earlier statements that human activity did not cause global warming and tried to explain away calling the current war on terror “a task that is from God.” She also defended asking for federal earmarks for Alaska though she has boasted of fighting such spending as wasteful.
“Sarah Palin has had way more than her 15 minutes of fame,” said Karen O’Connor, founder and director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University. “She got it because she’s a woman with five kids from Alaska. She’s different. But now, it’s time for some serious scrutiny.” O’Connor said the “cumulative effect” of that examination could quiet the buzz.
Democrats Fighting Back
Democrats have begun to chip away at Sarah Palin, highlighting contradictions to her claims of corruption-fighting. For instance, Sarah Palin says she stood up to Congress to refuse federal earmarks for Alaska, when the record shows she sought at least $200 million of them – and did not initially oppose the infamous bridge to nowhere
Democrats also are painting Sarah Palin as an extremist, noting that she wants abortion to be outlawed even in cases of rape and incest. Vice presidential candidate senator Joe Biden Jr. of Delaware said Sarah Palin represents a “backward step” for women.
Republican strategists said at the time that McCain picked Sarah Palin – an admired figure on the religious right – in part to appeal to independents and female voters who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.
But polling by EMILY’s List has shown that women’s favorable initial impression of Palin dropped sharply when they learned her positions on abortion rights (even in cases of rape and incest), and that many viewed the pick as pandering.
“What he has done is to attach himself to the right wing of the Republican Party,” said Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY’s List, which works to elect Democratic women. Malcolm argued that McCain took his advantage on experience, as well as his image of being a maverick, “off the table” with a nakedly political decision.
For all the interest in Sarah Palin, historically vice presidential candidates have had little effect on the outcome. Most voters cast their ballot based on the top of the ticket. Most Pennsylvania voters surveyed in the Quinnipiac poll agreed, and said that they were most concerned about the economy, health care and energy independence.
“When the debates come, those issues will take over the campaign,” Richards said. “I don’t think Saraph Palin can last that long as the focus.”
According to Karen O’Connor, founder and director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, “Sarah Palin has had way more than her 15 minutes of fame.”
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