Were that true, then Obama's star would have assured him of the presidency.
Among the average thinking people who are not involved with the Palinmania, which is similar to the Obamamania, and the Ron Paul mania...where the devotees of politician blindly refuse to look at any fault of the politician they have surrendered their common sense to...the bloom goes off the rose as time passes.
Palin has peaked, she has nowhere to go but down from here, as her celebrity status will be overshadowed by the hard truths that are being slowly revealed.
Even your hero worship of Reagan and blindness to his flaws was not shared by those who were in love with Reagan in his first term. Reagan left office with a much lower approval rating than when he took office.
Bush had over a 90% approval rating at one point. What is that worth now?
Momentum can change very quickly.
Just as the core 25% of Bush supporters support him no matter what he does, most people are easily influence by new information.
The hard right wing that is in love with Palin would have voted against Obama no matter what. It doesn't matter.
Dems are making appeals to the people to use their mind in their decision making for president, to evolve beyond a popularity contest reminiscent of a Jr. High School president contest. "She is pretty, he is cool...I will vote for them." Someone asks what their positions are on the issues, they respond "She is pretty, he is cool."
I am not sure that it will work, it is difficult to combat ignorance and the pig headed non thinkers who revel in their own lazy intellect. But that's the fight the dems face.
The people who once voted for Bush and supported him, and now don't want to talk about Bush (the same ones that hated McCain...and deep down still do) will refuse to re-evaluate their own thinking mechanism that led them into such poor choices.
For them, there is little hope. They are fixed and rigid in their thinking, and the red state mentality will continue.
However, the election is this and only this:
Obama needs to win every state that Kerry won, and Ohio or Florida.
The ticket of McCain and Palin vs. Obama and Biden is the real question in the minds of undecided voters.
Here at ET, I suspect of those who post, we won't find many undecided voters. Minds were made up a long time ago for most here.
Dems all over the country are registering new voters at a very high clip.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voters1208aug12,0,3709290.story
The key will be to get out the young people to actually vote, to convince them their vote actually can make a difference....something that was missing from both the Gore and Kerry campaigns. Neither of those campaigns had the vibrancy of this one.
The strategy for Obama/Biden should be two fold.
1. Talk about the economy and the decline of America in terms of standard of living, condition of school systems, roads, bridges, etc. Talk about the fact that Iraq is easily getting money for rebuilding projects, and America is getting the bill while their own standards of living and quality of life erodes. Everytime they hit a pothole, tell the voters to think of a nice new road in Iraq, and how you paid for it with your tax dollars. Talk about the wealth in the middle east from high oil prices, while you and your neighbor struggle to make ends meet. Talk about how the wealthy republicans who made so much money on tax cuts now don't really care about the price of gasoline, food, etc. as they never made any sacrifice for the Iraq war. Talk about McCain's voting record in support of Bush's positions.
2. Make sure every student is aware of what a war monger McCain is, and the high probability that he would bring back the draft. Make sure every student is registered to vote, and they they have a way to get to the polls.
The rest is just noise, as the economy is not likely to turn in 2 months, and the Iraq war is still an unpopular war for many reasons.
Illustrating the problems with Palin are a sideshow, and I doubt the dems are going to focus too much on this...they know the bloggers will do this job for them.
Since the dems control the MSM (according to the right wing) they can also do their part to influence the voters.
All it takes is all the Kerry states and Ohio, that's all it takes.
Doesn't matter if the red states vote 100% for McCain/Palin.
Oh, and Alaska is a red state. Palin is not likely to swing a blue state to red.
Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:
Won't work. Here's why. Given Palin's OVER THE TOP approval rating the press will be hard pressed to find a disgruntled consensus by those who view her work closest, Alaskan's themselves. Even the New York Times identifies Anne Kilkenny as a Democrat. Here's the bottom line; Once a star is born little else matters.
Just like Rezko/Wright-two really major events-didn't EOD dent Obama, nothing will ultimately stick to Sarah. She gets the same pass as Obama because they're icons. And yea win or lose this year she'll be a pain in the neck for the Dem's in 2012.