Reply #74: I understand your point....

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

For good or for ill (and I think we're agreed that it's for ill), Sarah Palin represents an image, maybe even a product that has created a visceral connection to a large number of voters, nearly all of whom would be voting Democratic if they voted on the issues as they effect them. So powerful is the pull of Palin's charisma that they're drawn to someone who's politics amount to a cosmic "pull my finger" joke rather than vote for the candidates who are genuinely trying to help them. We've had people like that before in the Democratic Party -- JFK and Paul Wellstone come to mind -- but I don't know that we have that sort of personality today other than Obama himself. But among white voters, Obama's appeal tends to be the strongest among more educated voters and not the primarly the people who are the followers of Sarah Palin.