I said it after the RNC, and I'll say it again--no ticket in History ever won an election...

[Bicoastal]

...based on the merits of the Vice President.

At the end of the day, it's about John McCain versus Barack Obama, but more importantly, it's about whether one half of the country wants to vote John McCain into the White House with greater passion than the rest of the country wants to vote in Barack Obama.

No offense to either Joe Biden or Sarah Palin (well, maybe Palin) but VP's really are just window dressing in a General Election.

[mw]

1. Too bad you're right. Cuz Palins sucks.

I'd love for this campaign to come down to the merits of Palin.

[rexy]

2. That's true, but seeing as McCain is the oldest candidate ever running,

not to mention his health problems, the merits of the repub VP are more important in this election than ever before.

[napi21]

3. Yes & that's the reason the VP makes a diff. this time! n/t

[MrModerate]

4. Won, perhaps . . . but Palin is scary in a way that is demonstrably . . .

Costing McCain votes. While I think McCain was going to lose even if he had chosen someone competent as his running mate (Olympia Snow, f'rinstance), Palin is still peeling voters away from the ticket at a much higher rate than she's attracting them. And the ones she's attracting weren't going to vote for a black man anyway.

What *I* said right after the RNC was that history would show that Palin was an astoundingly bad choice that guaranteed McCain's loss if it didn't single-handedly cause it.

[TlalocW]

5. That may be true, but the converse may hold

In that the republican ticket may lose the election based on the merits of their veep candidate.

TlalocW

[GrizzlyMan]

6. In a normal year, you might be right

But this is not a normal year. The economy has fueled some of Obama's surge, but so has a subtle realization by lots of folks that see a 72-year old man with a long history of serious health problems with a vapid, albeit "likeable" (at least to some, not me) bimbo a single hearbeat away from the WH.

I predicted (correctly) that there would be initial euphoria with this pick by the MSM and the dreaded swing voters. But as it became clear that she was empty, vapid, a moron, they would conclude rolling the dice on that pair was just too much of a risk. She is a huge drag on their ticket right now. Huge.

[Pithlet]

7. It's true. People generally don't vote for vice presidents.

But, it does seem that an unusual amount of attention was placed on the VP race this time around because of Palin. I think she did rally the base a bit for McCain, at least initially. People are hearing the anecdotes about people switching to McCain because of her. But, when it comes down to it, people will vote for the President, which is why I didn't panic when he picked Palin. Ultimately, people look at who is at the top of the ticket.

[krkaufman]

8. Maybe so... but Palin's recent interviews have coincided with McCain's ...

... plummeting poll numbers, and it's not ALL economics. I definitely think there's an aggregate effect of Biden's positives and Palin's negatives that is helping Obama out.

[krkaufman]

9. p.s. And then there's Cheney. Bush very likely would not have done as well in 2000 ...

... had he not chosen a very experienced, in theory, VP candidate.

[vaberella]

10. I don't know. I think this will be the first where people on both ends will be terrified

of Palin ever getting to the Presidency.

[No Elephants]

11. I disagree. Your assertion is based on the past. Things change. Cheney and Palin

have changed how important the VP is perceived to be. Further, we have the oldest first term Presidential hopeful ever and he has had 3 or 4 bouts of cancer already. People HAVE to look at Palin, unless they are totally out of reality.

[depakid]

12. A pretty good argument might be made that Johnson helped put JFK over the top