Republicans hoping Palin grows coattails
Tom Baxter
Editor, Southern Political Report
September 12, 2008 —
Last Sunday night, Bob Woodward said the U.S. is using a special operations technique in Iraq that is on the order of the plane or the tank as a military game-changer. This Tuesday, scientists in Switzerland cranked up the world’s biggest atom-smasher, which some had predicted would set off a black hole and the end of the world. (So far they’re wrong.) I mention these recent events, not to launch off into a discourse on whiz-bang military technology or particle physics, but simply to note that the impact of Sarah Palin on every other story with which she has shared news cycles has been like mulch on weeds. The big political story of midweek was about the furor over a remark which John McCain’s campaign charged was an oblique reference to her, and the Barack Obama campaign said wasn’t. In one week’s time, Palin has grown so big that the word “lipstick” alone is enough to put her picture back on the tube. The conservative grassroots excitement over Palin is likely to last even longer than the media’s fascination with her, or at least that’s what a lot of Republicans are hoping. Suddenly it’s not just John McCain who has a lot riding on the shelf life of a fresh new face from Alaska. In North Carolina, Dan McLagan, a Republican consultant to US Sen. Elizabeth Dole, said Republican field offices around the state were reporting two to four times the number of volunteers coming through the door since the Palin pick (which Dole wasn’t on hand to applaud in St. Paul, having chosen to stay home and campaign). Even farther down the ticket, Georgia state Rep. Katie Dempsey, who faces what she describes as a “challenging” and “difficult” race against Democrat Bob Puckett in her Rome district, said the Palin vice-presidential nomination has fired up Republicans in her district, which she hopes will work to her favor. “She is so much like, particularly the Republican women I’ve served with in the legislature. They didn’t grow up wanting to be in politics, but that became part of their life’s journey,” Dempsey said. Palin’s influence could have an impact in a big in a big state Senate race in Tennessee, where Republican Delores Gresham, who’s closely identified with the right-to-life movement, is opposing Democrat Randy Camp to fill the seat opened by the retirement of state Sen. John Wilder, the nation’s longest-serving legislator. Florida supporters of an amendment banning same-sex marriage are hoping Palin will be enough to push their measure over the 60 percent requirement for passage. Louisiana political wizard John Maginnis even speculates Palin could help a Democrat, in the New Orleans 2nd Congressional District where embattled US Rep. William Jefferson faces six opponents in a primary which was pushed back to Oct. 4 by Hurricane Gustav. One of those six is a Mexican-American former anchorwoman, Helena Moreno, who has polled ahead of Jefferson recently on a reform platform. Because of the delay in the primary, the runoff, if it’s necessary, would be on General Election Day, Nov. 4. For all the hopes riding on Palin, none of those interviewed had seen any polling data yet that shows what her down-ticket impact might be. The Republicans are hopeful, but still not certain whether the public’s fascination with Palin will last long enough for her to grow coattails. And by the way, what was Woodward talking about?
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